Old Friends
by althea118
Summary: Starts out in s5 ep14. Rory Gilmore is in control, with a kind-of boyfriend (Logan), a new best friend (Steph), and a new group to make college life fun. What will happen when Tristan returns from military school? Finn/Colin/Logan as well as the Chilton gang. TRORY
1. Chapter 1

_A/N- This chapter begins in season 5 ep 14, and everything up until this point in the show has happened, including Jess leaving and the season 4 finale. It's a trory, but I need to set the scene first so bear with me!_

 _-I don't own Gilmore Girls_

 **Chapter 1- Say Something**

Rory Gilmore was nervous.

She knew she was fifteen minutes early, but she couldn't help herself building ten minutes into her schedule for the walk from her dorm to Logan's, even though it was on the floor above hers. Tugging at her skirt in a bid to stop it from riding up, she took a deep breath and knocked at the door. She heard footsteps make their way over to the door, and she prepared herself for the inevitable greeting of one of Logan's mind-numbing kisses, but the door was opened to reveal a brown-haired girl that she didn't recognise. Not who she was looking for.

Was it not his dorm? She excused herself politely and turned to go, but just as she was about to leave, she heard Logan from inside. Smiling to the girl, a little embarrassed, she stepped inside to find him, Colin, and some guys she knew from the LDB sitting around a poker table. She could only see the back of his head, his blonde hair tousled from running his hand through it. It was shorter on the sides than usual, and she wondered if he'd had a haircut. It looked weirdly familiar, and from the back he looked just like someone she used to know.

A poker game was not what she was expecting. Frowning, she sat down next to Logan, humouring him, and watched him lose $2000 before he noticed she was there.

'Ace! You came!' he said, his voice friendly but his eyes distracted. He leant over and brushed his lips across her cheek, but quickly resumed playing the game.

She glanced at his cards, but had no clue whether they were any good. In fact, she didn't know anything at all about poker. Her eyes wandered up to Logan's twinkling ones, watching as his focus darted around the table, but he didn't make eye contact. For God's sake, the tall guy across from her was paying her more attention!

Not too politely, she excused herself.

'Where you going, Ace?'

'I'm just gonna get a drink, I'll be right back' she replied with an extraordinarily fake smile.

She headed towards the back of the room, where there were two girls, both cradling cocktails, obviously waiting for the right time to slip into the extra seats around the card table. Up till now, Rory hadn't recognised anyone except Logan and Colin, so when her eyes fell on the kind-of familiar face of Stephanie, she was relieved. Smiling, she sat down on the couch next to her.

'Hi Stephanie,' she said, but shrunk back seeing Stephanie's mildly confused expression.

'Hey! I'm sorry, but have we met? I don't think so! I'm Steph, or 'Miss Stephanie Vanderbilt' as I'm known, but nobody calls me that so don't you start! Anyway, who are you and what are you doing _here_? I've never been anywhere as dull as this in my life!' she declared.

Rory had known Steph was a little tipsy at the Life and Death Brigade event, but she thought she would have recognised her from the blindfolded journey there.

'Actually, we have met. I'm Rory, you took me to the last Brigade event? I'm that reporter that followed everyone around, probably annoying them to no end. I'm really sorry about that by the way, I just wanted a good story and that event was definitely worth writing about! Anyway, I just wanted to-'

'Hold up! You're Ace!' Steph interrupted Rory's nervous ramble. 'I remember you! You were one of the jumpers! I loved your dress. Where was it from?'

'I don't know actually, I think Logan got it for me.'

'Huh. You wanna get out of here? I don't know what Logan was thinking, bringing you over when the guys were here, cause this is boooring.'

Rory smiled wryly. 'I definitely wouldn't've asked to come if I knew they would be here.' And she wouldn't have. Watching a card game was not exactly her idea of fun.

'I just don't get it!' Steph continued. 'I mean, he can be a dumbass sometimes, but I don't know why he'd do this, he totally likes you!'

Rory just looked at her feet. Steph's bubbly chit chat wasn't exactly helping the situation. Logan hadn't even looked over anywhere near her. In all honesty, she was getting a little sick of Logan's constant hot and cold, and sure, sometimes he treated her like a princess or something, but the rest of the time it was like she was just another girl. As thoughts swirled around in her head, her eyes focussed on the poker table. She could hear Stephanie in the background, but suddenly Robert threw his hands in the air, the action breaking her train of thought. It appeared he had lost his winning streak. She was still glaring at the table when she was startled by the appearance a brown-haired head in her lap.

'Love, I'm tired. Fatigued even. Can I just lay here in your lap? I promise I won't be naughty,' Finn said with a grin, and a sideways glance at the end.

'Urgh! Get off of her, you creep! You've known her for what, five minutes?' Stephanie exclaimed as she pushed Finn onto the floor.

Finn frowned. 'Oy! When did you get so violent? And I'll have you know that Love and I have met before,' he continued, ignoring Rory's look of confusion. 'Where was it? Ah yes, Cape Cod last year. I have to say, that was a _fun_ summer, we hardly left the house! And when we did, well, let's just say the beach-goers weren't too happy, isn't that right, Love?' he finished with a smirk.

'What?' Rory raised an eyebrow, trying not to laugh. 'I've never even been to Cape Cod, Finn.'

He chuckled. 'Deny it all you want, but my mates all know you as my American lover.'

'Well she's definitely not the only one.' Steph added with a shake of her head.

'Besides, what happened to the whole 'Have we met before thing?' Rory asked. She hadn't minded that every time they'd met up until now, Finn hadn't recognised her, but she did need something to tease him with.

He was unshaken. 'Well my love, let's just say that I finally realised that true beauty has to have a name, and in this case it's called _Rory_.' he said, winking at her and blowing her a kiss.

'Jesus Finn…' Steph rolled her eyes.

'Fine.' he sighed. 'You got me, I have yet to win the great prize of Rory Gilmore, and I too have never been to Cape Cod.'

'That can be arranged…' Rory joked. She had no idea where the sudden burst of confidence was coming from, but at this point she had to just go with it.

'What, going to Cape Cod? No offence love, but it's the middle of winter. I don't particularly want to freeze my arse off at the beach.'

Steph smirked. 'I think she meant the other part, Finn.' she informed him.

Rory watched as Finn's eyes grew wider, before he shook his head as if to banish all thoughts of her from his head. 'I need a drink.' he mumbled, and stumbled over to the kitchenette.

As soon as Finn was out of earshot, Steph turned to Rory. 'I have never seen Finn look more depressed and simultaneously aroused at one time! Congratulations!'

She bit her lip, her nerves returning. 'I hope he didn't think I was serious…'

Steph laughed. 'Nah, but he definitely wished you were. _I'm_ serious, he looks like he's gonna fall over!'

Rory looked over at him uneasily. He was leaning on the counter, letting it support all his weight. She turned to Steph who broke into a huge smile and simultaneously they both broke into a fit of giggles. Finn turned around to see what was so funny, completely unaware that he was the subject of the joke, which cause them to collapse into a heap.

It took a few minutes for her breathing to return back to normal, but she couldn't help but sneak a glance over at Logan, who was still completely engrossed in the game. 'You'd think after all that noise he would check on us, but no.' she murmured sadly, just loud enough for Steph to hear.

'You know what, you're right!' Steph exclaimed. Rory was beginning to notice that Steph's default voice was an exclamation. 'Let's get out of here. I heard about this party downtown, we can go crash that. Show Logan what he's missing.' Rory could tell Steph thought she still looked unconvinced. 'In fact, let's bring Finn. Then there will be someone to tell Logan all about it.'

'Are you sure?' she questioned hesitantly. 'I don't want to offend him…'

'Girl, you need to chill out. He's being a total jerk, so you should just go and do whatever you want. In this case, that means come with me, get wasted, and have a great night instead of falling asleep on his couch.'

Steph's empowering speech roused something within her. 'Yeah! Girl power, right? Let's go.'

So laughing, they put on their coats and grabbed their bags, and then each with an arm around Finn, they strutted out of the dorm without even a goodbye to Logan.

* * *

'Steph, I thought the party was going to be a _party_ party, like at a dorm or something, not a _college-kids-take-over-the-bar_ party. Is it even legal to have this many people in one place?'

'Relax, love! This way we can down as many drinks as we want!' came Finn's input.

'I'm sure you'll have no problem with that,' Steph added.

'But Steph…' Rory trailed off, _I'm underage!_ she continued in her head.

As if she had read her mind, Steph reassured her, 'Live a little, Rory. One drink isn't gonna hurt you. Besides, Finn's already ordering you one of his special concoctions.'

Sure enough, Finn had made his way to the bar and was talking animatedly with the bartender, gesticulating wildly in their direction. Rory could make out something about her 'first time' and prayed to God that he meant drinking. Finally, the bartender handed Finn some kind of bright pink cocktail, as well as a tray of shots.

'Are those all for us?' she asked as he made his way back to the table, and as soon as he set the tray down, Steph grabbed two and downed them one after the each other. Then, turning to Rory, she exclaimed 'The more the merrier!'

'She means shots, love.' Finn clarified.

With a deep breath, Rory sat down, leant back, and flung the clear liquid to the back of her throat and before the vile taste could set in, she took a huge sip of her cocktail. 'The more the merrier,' she repeated, imagining her mother cheering as she swallowed.

After an hour, Rory had relaxed into the atmosphere, and was on her third of the delicious 'pinkie drinkies', as Steph called them. There was a group gathered around the table watching the trio do body shots, whooping as Rory took her turn. Suddenly, Steph grabbed her hand and pulled her out onto the dance floor, and grinning widely, Rory willingly followed.

The music had grown steadily louder throughout the night and was now pulsing through the floor, a mix of hiphop and EDM dominating the speakers. Everyone around them was jumping and grinding, but even in her slightly inebriated state Rory knew she couldn't do that. So instead she punched her fists in the air until she almost elbowed Steph in the face.

'Come on Rory, you look like some kind of 8th grader at a school disco dancing like that! Let me show you.' And with that, Steph grabbed Rory's waist and twisted her around so that Rory's back was against her front.

'What are you doing?' Rory giggled, as Steph began to move against her.

'Stop laughing! Guys love a little girl-on-girl action, and I for one want to get laid! Just follow my lead.'

She gasped as Steph stepped even closer, which at that point Rory didn't even think was possible, and started grinding on her ass. At first she didn't know what to do- it's not like she had ever been in that situation before. This was nothing like spring break. Everyone was closer together, dancing together. Slowly, Rory caught on to Steph's rhythm and with a sigh, began to let go and get into it. She felt someone press up in front of her, and when Steph flipped her around she realised it was Finn.

'Hi Love! I thought I might join you lovely ladies on the dance floor. You see, a certain redhead was very rude to me and I just need some consolation,' he explained with a sniff and started grinding with them, fitting into the rhythm perfectly.

Drunk Finn sure lived up to his stories. That was evident when he decided it was too hot so he literally ripped off his shirt, and then made out with the redhead from earlier. But Rory was in no hurry to stop dancing, she felt so free, so loose. For the first time in months, she truly let go.

* * *

He had been watching Rory since she got there. At first she reminded him of the quiet and somewhat timid girl that he used to know, but right around when she was doing body shots it occurred to him that everyone changes. He smiled as she giggled uncontrollably and made her way to the dance floor. Her dancing hadn't changed, he noticed. That was until Steph began to dance with her. It was then that he noticed her legs, encased in fishnet tights that somehow seemed classy, and her eyes that sparkled with a light he hadn't seen in years.

Tristan groaned. Somehow, Rory Gilmore was still as desirable as she'd been three years ago. He finished his drink, hid his face in his hoodie to avoid any eye contact, and made his way out of the bar.

Gritting his teeth, he made his decision. Fine, he was back. Fine, at some point he would see all his old friends. But no matter how many times their paths crossed, no matter how much he wanted to, under no circumstances would he let himself fall for Rory Gilmore again.

Yeah right, he said to himself, let's see how long this lasts.

Something told him it wouldn't be for long.

* * *

Rory woke up to the sound of someone retching in her bathroom. Groaning, she tried to roll over but realised she was pinned underneath Finn's arm. Gingerly, she slipped out from his grasp, and climbing over the assorted pairs of legs that were draped all over the floor of her dorm room, made her way to the coffee maker. To her surprise, there was already a cup on the counter, with a post-it stuck to the side of the mug, reading 'Someone told me you like coffee. A lot. So as the first token of our friendship, I present you with coffee, made by me. Steph xx'. Rory smiled, and even though she had a pulsing headache, stumbled to her room and threw on some sweatpants, after drinking the coffee of course. Then she slipped into her flip-flops, and walked down the hall to Steph's dorm, where she scribbled a note on the whiteboard that hung on the door.

'Come over for a movie night tonight, we'll start with the classics.

Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.'

* * *

 _A/N- Just a reminder- this is a trory! So don't worry about Tristan's lack of enthusiasm._

 _So Steph and Rory are gonna be best friends in this fic, but she isn't going to replace Paris, don't worry. Long Live Paris Geller. Anyway, the next chapter will be more interesting, that was a sort of introduction._


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N- This chapter begins in season 5 ep 15. Steph and Rory have had a few movie nights since the last chapter. Also, all the chapters based within the episodes will have the name of that episode as their title._

 _-I don't own Gilmore Girls_

 **Chapter 2- Jews and Chinese Food**

The movie with Marty was fun, but there was something missing. Maybe it was just that they had grown apart since Freshman year, but it felt like she didn't know him anymore. Over the course of the evening, they had both relaxed, and Rory found her legs draped over his, but it still felt a little tense, but the 'I love Lucy' chit chat helped to keep it light.

A knock at the door brought her out of her trance. To her surprise, and delight, it wasn't Paris at the door, but Logan. She wasn't sure how Marty felt about Logan, after all, he did have to work for him, so she resolved to keep him by the door. It seemed like he was on his way out though, and Rory was relieved until he invited her to come too.

'Oh! Um, I can't.'

'What? Sure you can. I missed you, let me buy you a fortune cookie.'

'I kind of have company,' Rory admitted, a little nervous about Logan knowing about the other guy in her dorm.

'Really? Anyone I know?'

She opened the door a little wider to reveal Marty, who awkwardly got up and waved from across the room.

If Logan was annoyed, he didn't show it. In fact, he invited Marty along as well. Rory was relieved, after all, that could have become some kind of confrontation that she didn't want to deal with. But she didn't want Marty to feel pressured into it, so she tried to give him a way out.

'Oh, well…' she started.

'Come on Marty, if you're gonna being hanging with Ace like this, it's time I got to know you without a waiter's uniform on.'

She didn't think she had ever want to punch somebody more than she did at the moment, while at the same time want to oblige them. A weird fluttering made an appearance in her stomach at the mention of her nickname- it was almost like Logan was marking his territory, which though on principal Rory objected to, it gave her a primal sense of pride. But just as soon as they had appeared, the butterflies subsided as he very subtly mocked Marty. 'What a passive aggressive jerk!'

But to be honest, she would rather eat Chinese with her new friends than talk any more about 'I Love Lucy,' so even though she told Marty they didn't have to go, she was happy when he said they could, and happy to ignore his obvious unenthusiastic attitude.

* * *

Finn, Colin, and two girls she didn't know were already seated when the three walked in. There were four empty places at the table, but when asked who the fourth place was set for, Logan only replied, 'It's a surprise.'

The dinner began a little awkwardly, as the group was obviously not comfortable with Marty, that is everyone except the blonde seated to his left, who introduced herself as Juliet. She seemed fascinated by his 'smarts' as she called it, and was not so subtly leaning very close to him. Rory was so engrossed by tales of Colin's boarding school days, that she didn't even notice someone sit down next to her.

'This one time, there was a huge party in the guys' dorms, and of course, Finn decided to jump out of the window. He said, and I quote, 'Mates, I spy a redhead! I've never done a redhead!' and just threw open the window and jumped out.'

'Wait a minute mate, I've never said 'done' in my life. I believe the correct term was 'fucked a redhead!'

'Jesus Finn! Nobody wants to hear your various boarding school escapades!' a voice from beside Rory objected.

'Steph!' Rory exclaimed.

'Rory!'

'Finn!' Finn added.

'What are you, stupid?' Colin asked, 'That's the female way of greeting each other.'

'I just wanted to play the game too.' Finn replied sadly.

'Aww don't worry Finn, we can play our own game later tonight,' Juliet reassured him.

'I'm sorry kitten, but I thought I made myself clear. _Rosemary_ is coming home with me tonight.'

'What about me, Finny?' Rory asked, feeling bold.

'What about you, Ace?' Logan cut in, and just as soon as her bold streak had come, it disappeared.

'Well, I need somebody to walk me back to my dorm…' she trailed off.

'Love, I hate to break it to you, but you might be sleeping in our dorm tonight,' Finn said with a wink in Logan's direction. Rory blushed, and whispered something to Steph who promptly got up from the table, and left the private room that they were situated in.

Rory leaned across the table. 'So Colin, are there any stories about Logan that you might want to share?' As she said this, Stephanie slipped back in, and positioned herself directly behind Colin. Rory looked up at Logan, who had caught on to the joke, and raised her eyebrows.

'Or you could tell Rory that one about Steph?' he asked.

'Oh! Well, I don't know how comfortable she would be with you knowing, actually maybe you don't want to know…'

'Come on, baby. I don't recall you being uncomfortable at the time' Steph whispered in his ear.

Colin's eyes widened in surprise- he wasn't aware that she was behind him. He then turned beet red in response, and the whole group began to laugh hysterically at his embarrassment. After all, it was Colin- he had it coming.

Some time during the dinner, Marty slipped out. Rory had done nothing but talk to Stephanie, flirt with Logan, or laugh with Finn. This was supposed to be their night, and yet she had completely forgotten about him. He stood around outside for a while, then made his way to a bar downtown.

* * *

Marty looked up as someone sat down next to him.

'I'll have whatever he's having.' he said.

Marty looked down. He wasn't even sure what he was drinking at this point. He closed his eyes, only to open them again when he felt a hand on his back.

'Man, you okay? Cause you were really close to falling right off that stool,' the guy said.

Marty grunted in response.

'You need me to call you a cab or something?'

There was no reply.

'Fine. Suit yourself.'

The blonde guy got up and headed towards the door, when Marty mustered up the energy to speak.

'There's this girl.'

The guy stopped. 'No shit.'

'Yeah, no shit. She doesn't give a shit about me.'

The guy sat back down. 'I know the feeling.'

'I guess I already knew, but she said it would be 'our night'. Like movies, and she even dressed up,' Marty said, his words slightly slurred.

'For a movie night? Geez, I'd love to find a girl that dressed up for a movie night. Were there heels involved?'

'No, like dress-up dressed up. She had a wig.'

'That's slightly less hot, but okay.'

'No! It was hot! And we talked and everything.'

'Cause what else would you do?' the guy said with a roll of his eyes.

'I know! Anyway so we talked and we were talking and then _he_ showed up at the door.'

'Ah.'

'So we got dragged into going to dinner with him.'

'Like, the three of you? In what world was that a good idea?'

'His friends were there too.'

'Why would she want to go?'

' _Their_ friends were there too.'

'You make it sound like they're a couple.'

'They basically are.'

'Well what's he like?'

'Some call him 'the blonde dick'. Reminds me of you.'

'Gee, thanks. Well no offence to you, but what made you think you could get her over him?'

'Haven't you ever just ignored the boyfriend?'

'Well yeah, but that's me. We're talking about you.'

'I just don't even get why she likes him! Who knew she was the type to get lured in by a name.'

'What name?' the guy asked, a little warily.

'I thought she saw me, you know? She always went on about how shit like that didn't matter to her. But in the end, I guess it's hard to escape.'

What name?' he repeated.

'And they're so different! Her date night is 'come over and we can watch movies'. His date night is 'Let me take you to the most expensive restaurant in New Haven, so I can make sure you know that I'm RICH.'

'What name!' he said again, raising his voice.

'HUNTZBERGER! LOGAN FUCKING HUNTZBERGER!

There was silence in the bar, until the guy spoke.

'You know, as much as I know the feeling, in fact right now I'm getting some serious deja vu, you need to stop judging people you don't even know, cause Logan 'fucking' Huntzberger happens to be one of the best guys around. You don't know shit.'

'What, are you his brother or something?'

'You could say that, yeah.'

And with that, the guy stormed out of the bar, leaving Marty alone again.

* * *

'Mom, it's nine. What are you doing up? More importantly, where did you get the idea that it was okay to wake me up?'

'Sorry kid, what can I say. I'm a lonely woman.'

'A woman is never lonely with coffee!'

'It just wasn't working for me today, babe. I mean, usually by cup number four I can cope.'

'Blasphemy! What will the coffee gods say?'

'I was going to hell anyway, so I can't imagine that's changed.'

'Why?' Rory said warily.

'Well,' Lorelai paused. 'I may have already said you would go to a society dinner with your grandma tonight,' she revealed, grimacing.

'What?!'

'And I may have told her that if I come, Luke comes.'

Rory sighed. 'At least I'll have Luke.'

'Yeah, about that…'

'You didn't.'

'I'm so sorry sweets! But you know what my mother's like! It'll be 'Lorelai, that dress is too skimpy!', or 'Lorelai, couldn't you do something with your hair?' and there will definitely be a 'Look Lorelai, that man is single!' and then I'll say 'But Mom, I have a boyfriend!' to which she will reply 'Nonsense. This man is an investment banker' or something like that and we will end up fighting and embarrassing you as always. Do you want that? Do you _want_ to be embarrassed?'

'No, but,'

'I thought so. I also may have mentioned you'd be going stag.' Lorelei cut in.

'Mom!'

'On the bright side, she said your date will be a little younger than last time.'

'This is just cruel.'

'You could always call her, you know.'

'I have two words: Emily Gilmore.'

'You have to see her anyway.'

'No!' Rory interrupted

'You have to go get your dress!'

'You're coming too!'

'Sorry sweets, I'm a little busy at the moment.'

'With what? If it's Luke I don't wanna know,' Rory replied, crinkling her nose.

'No, Rodriguez my Portuguese lover is here, and he is quite the attention seeker.'

'Where's Luke?'

'Luke's in the shower.' Lorelei replied in a sultry tone.

'I'm hanging up now.'

'Grandma's expecting you!'

* * *

'Now Rory, the party is for Helena Bradford, whose son is in his Sophomore year at Harvard. She has invited everyone from society with children in an ivy league school, so there will be lots of candidates for you,' Emily explained.

'Candidates?'

'For goodness' sake, Rory. There are many eligible bachelors here.'

'And?'

'You did break up with,' she paused, 'What was his name? Dean, correct?'

'Yes…' Rory answered, raising her eyebrow.

'So, you are in need of a boyfriend! You are attending 'stag' as your mother called it. Therefore you must be searching for someone new!'

'Grandma! I'm only here because you asked me to come. I will socialise, talk to your friends, and even talk to the Helena Bradford's son, but I am not going to find a boyfriend. This is not even _how_ you find a boyfriend!'

'Well, just keep your eye out.'

'Fine.'

'Oh look! There's Richard! Come, he's waiting for us.'

And with that, Rory and Emily slipped out of the limo, and walked up to the door. It opened to reveal a very stiff looking butler.

'Bonjour, may I take your coats?' he said disdainfully, with a French accent that reminded Rory of Michel.

She shrugged off her coat to reveal a baby blue dress that fell to her knees, studded with diamonds that Rory hoped weren't real. Her hair was pulled back into a curled ponytail, with a few strands framing her face. A string of pearls hung around her neck, matching the drop-pearl earrings that dangled above her shoulders. To finish the look, she had a pair of gold high heels that matched her necklace chain. Back at her grandparents', she had felt overdressed; after all, it wasn't often she dressed up. But here, she was surrounded by cocktail dresses with low backs. She wished she'd chosen something with a slightly more daring neckline, and maybe with a longer skirt.

She glanced around, looking for anyone that could be her age. She spotted a brunette go through into the other room, and keeping her eyes on the quickly disappearing figure, Rory did her best to follow. She turned the corner and bumped straight into a very familiar figure.

'Paris?'

'Rory, thank God! I was the first one here! Do you know how long I have been waiting for someone else to arrive besides spacey over there?'

Rory looked over at the brunette, who had made her way over to the sofa, and sure enough, staring up at the ceiling.

'Paris, why are you here?'

'Why do you think? My mother made me come.'

'I am getting an eerie sense of deja vu here.'

'I know, I know. Why didn't you tell me you were coming?'

'I didn't know until this morning, and it's not like you came home last night.'

'Doyle's roommates cleared out! I wasn't gonna waste an opportunity like that!'

'I don't wanna know, Paris. Where's everyone else?'

'Oh! They're just coming in…' she trailed off.

Rory turned around and her eyes fell on her semi-boyfriend, with some blonde on his arm. Her eyes widened in surprise, but then she remembered the agreement. No strings, keep it casual. She took a deep breath. She could do casual.

'Rory, it's okay. We can just pretend we came together.'

'I am not pulling another spring break. Besides, I'm fine. We said we were non-exclusive, so I'm gonna be non-exclusive.' And with that, she strutted over to where Logan and the blonde were standing. She watched him recognise her and throw a worried glance over the girl attached to his arm, but she responded with nothing but a smile.

'Hi Logan! I didn't know you were coming to this!'

'Well, here I am.'

'And who's this?' Rory questioned, all the while smiling sweetly.

'I'm Charlie,' the blonde introduced herself.

What was she supposed to say now? She cursed herself for thinking that talking to him was a good idea. She didn't have a date, and now she was just going to look desperate. Just then, Finn walked through the door.

'It's alright everyone, the party's here!' He pulled a bottle out from behind his back and took a huge swig.

She watched him curiously. As other students filtered through the doors, he offered each person a sip. She looked over at Logan, who was busy flirting with his date. Urgh, it was gonna be hard to ignore them the whole night. So she decided to approach Finn. She walked up casually, then asked him if she could have some.

'Love, do you know how proud that makes me? I love to see my kitten asking for alcohol. But alas, it wouldn't be fair if I didn't make you work for it like all the other girls have to.'

Rory wasn't sure how to respond. 'Okay, uh, what do you want?'

'Just a kiss, love,' he replied, pointing to his cheek.

She took a deep breath, and leaned in. But just as she was about to make contact, she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Logan was sitting on an armchair, with his date in his lap. Something inside snapped. How could he make her feel this jealous?

At the last second, Rory tilted to the left and captured Finn's lips with her own. She had intended the kiss to be short and sweet, but once she started she just couldn't stop. It wasn't that she liked Finn, just that she was so full of anger over what Logan had done. She knew it was irrational, after all, they said non-exclusive. But it still hurt. Why hadn't he invited her?

All of these thoughts were running through her head as the kiss became more and more passionate. Finn was a good kisser. She could feel his tongue at her lips, and she opened her mouth to allow him entry. She opened her eyes. His hands had found her waist and hers were resting on his shoulders, and just over them she could see Logan watching. His date was trying her best to entertain him, but his attention was captivated by her. She smiled inwardly before closing her eyes and losing herself in the kiss.

Finally, the need for air was too much and they broke apart. She leant back, and Finn steadied her with his arms.

'Love, where did you learn that?' he asked. 'That definitely deserves a sip. No! A whole bottle! Here! Have it!'

'No Finn, that's okay.' She was feeling slightly dazed from the experience, but as she saw Logan's face- pure anger towards Finn, she felt slightly better.

'Suit yourself. I'm gonna go get find me a redhead.'

By now the room was full of both college students and DAR members, all making small talk. Rory looked around, searching for Paris. She couldn't see her, but instead another blonde caught her eye, engaged in a heated discussion with Colin.

She made her way over to where Stephanie and Colin were stood, only to hear the tail end of an argument.

'You know what Steph? I don't care who you sleep with, as long as it doesn't affect me.'

'Same goes for you. I don't even get why you care.' Steph replied.

'I don't care! I just don't want to watch you throw yourself at my friends.'

'Fuck off, Colin. Fuck off.'

'Great comeback.' he said sarcastically.

'This all just boils down to the fact that you haven't gotten laid in months.'

'First of all, I am not discussing my sex life with _you_. Second of all, I've done it three times in the last week.'

'You just contradicted yourself! And you say _I'm_ hypocritical.'

Rory decided to take that moment to dive in and break up the fight, before it got too loud or embarrassing for either of them.

'Sorry Colin, can I borrow Steph for a minute?' she asked.

'We were done talking anyway.' He stormed off.

Rory turned to Steph. 'What was that all about?'

'He's pissed cause I slept with Jason.'

'And?'

'Jason's his friend.'

'I think it's more to do with the fact that you slept with someone that's not him.'

'What are you talking about?'

'He totally likes you! Look how angry he got!'

'And anger translates to passion?'

'Yeah. Don't deny it, Steph.'

'Whatever. I think we need to talk about the chemistry between you and Finn.' Steph said, smirking.

Rory cringed. 'You saw that?'

'I think half the DAR saw it! And it was heating up fast. I don't know how you stayed so in control.'

'It really wasn't that big of a deal. I only did it to show Logan how it feels.'

'Well it worked! He looks so mad!'

Rory looked over at Logan, who looked like he was about to punch Finn.

'I hope Finn didn't get the wrong idea…'

'Relax. Finn doesn't get attached. He's just in it for the moment. And from what I saw, you gave him a good moment.'

'Grandma told me to find a boyfriend- I hope she doesn't think that was me doing it…'

'Our parents hadn't infiltrated the room yet, so I think you're in the clear.'

Just then, Buffy Charleston walked up to the pair.

'You're Rory, correct?'

'Yes, it's nice to meet you Mrs Charleston.'

'Oh darling, call me Buffy. And you are?' she asked, looking at Stephanie.

'Stephanie Vanderbilt. It's nice to meet you.'

'So Rory, I believe my husband was your principal. You went to Chilton?'

'I did, but I only joined in 10th grade.'

'Didn't you graduate with honours or something?' Steph asked.

'She was valedictorian, I believe.' Buffy corrected. 'Anyway, I'd better find Helena. It was nice meeting you.'

* * *

He walked through the old oak doors, and handed some snotty frenchman his coat. As he took in the amount of people in the room, he felt an urge to run his hands through his hair, but upon remembering the amount of gel it had taken to get it slicked back, stopped himself. He hadn't been to one of these parties since high school, and to his surprise, actually was a little intimidated. All he could see was businessmen and trophy wives. He sighed. He was never going to make it out alive.

* * *

After Buffy had departed, Emily hunted down Rory and made sure she accompanied her while 'making the rounds'. She was introduced to so many people that their faces all blurred into one, and after a half an hour she had forgotten all of the names she had so carefully learnt. Finally, Emily released her and Rory tracked down the bar, ordering a gin and tonic. As she sipped at it, she only had one thought:

'Lorelai Victoria Gilmore, you will pay for this.'

* * *

 _A/N- This is only half of the party, the other (more interesting!) half will be in the next chapter. Thanks to my beta, Nina :)_


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N- This chapter starts during the party._

 _-I don't own Gilmore Girls_

 **Chapter 3- The Youth of Hartford Society**

'Another gin and tonic, please.'

The bartender handed Rory her third drink. She stood, leaning against a chair, her eyes focussed on Logan and his date. Steph was no where to be found, and Colin was trapped talking to some aunt of his. Paris was busy arguing with someone over the merits of a growing unemployment rate, and Finn was nursing his empty bottle on a sofa.

She was sick of the jealousy. All night she had been unable to look away from Logan and Charlie for more than a minute, even though she glared every time Charlie laughed. She sighed. She wanted nothing more than to talk to Finn- he would cheer her up. But she wasn't sure how to approach their kiss earlier. Did they ignore it? Or address it immediately? She wasn't even sure what it meant. It wasn't like she felt anything emotional when kissing Finn, but the heat that came out had surprised her. Was it right that someone who she had no attraction to could evoke such intense feeling? She hadn't ever been kissed like that before. Pure lust, exactly what she needed in the moment. Kissing Logan had never been like that. But then, she always got the feeling that she wanted more than he did. She wanted a connection between them, but all the while it felt like Logan didn't want anything more.

She sighed. 'I'm overthinking this,' she mumbled. Looking down at her glass, she realised it was empty. Turning around, she ordered two drinks, and made her way over to where Finn was sitting.

She sat down next to him without a word. He didn't look at her. Did he know she was there? Rory leaned back, relaxing into the couch.

'I have never been boreder in my life.' Finn announced, leaning back next to Rory.

'I hate to break it to you, but I'm pretty sure the correct term is 'more bored'' she corrected, smiling.

Finn laughed. 'Love, I hate to break it back you but I'm pretty sure they mean the same thing.'

Rory didn't reply, she was too busy watching Logan and Charlie. She took a long sip of her drink and curled up on the sofa. Finn followed the line of her eyes until he noticed Logan, now engaged in a heated make out session while glancing at Rory over Charlie's shoulder.

'You know, I've been there.'

'You have?' Rory was surprised.

'I think we all have. You wouldn't expect it, with our rep, but every so often there'll be a girl that we can't have.'

'Looks to me like Logan can have as many girls as he wants.' she replied, but not bitterly. The thought just made her sad.

'Logan doesn't know what he wants, love. Just try not to get too attached.'

'I'm… I'm just so jealous! Of Charlie, for being his date, but also of _him_. Why am I the one sitting here alone when he is with another girl?'

'The non-exclusive part of the relationship applies to you as well, kitten.'

'Do you think I would have agreed if it didn't?'

'Well, no. And I'm guessing that's why you kissed me,' he paused. 'Cause you wanted to prove to yourself that you could kiss other people as well.'

'Yeah, and I wanted to make him jealous.' she admitted.

'I think it worked. I've never seen him throw himself at a girl like that before.'

'Finn, I don't want to know.'

'You need cheering up! We're at a party, for God's sake.'

'For someone as drunk as you, your words are surprisingly wise.'

'Kitten, this is not drunk. Hell, you've seen me far drunker than this. But later, when the sub-party kicks in, I am gonna get so wasted that I won't be able to think tomorrow. So if you decide that you wanna make Logan even more jealous, I'm not gonna remember.'

'I think I'll be okay, Finn.'

They both rested their heads on the back of the couch. Rory was just reaching the peaceful state before sleep when Finn exclaimed, 'It's time!'

* * *

'Be quiet,' Colin hissed at a giggling Juliet, who promptly stifled her laughter.

The fifteen of them were making their way out to the pool house, all the while trying to avoid the gazes of their relatives. They had snuck out through the French doors in the second sitting room, and followed a cobbled path out to where the pool itself was. Rory shivered. It was freezing, the February wind cutting through the thin party dress she had on. She didn't even recognise half the people she was walking with, but Steph had finally reappeared and was right behind her.

'Steph, we don't even know where the pool house is,' Rory sighed.

'Relaaaax!' Steph slurred. 'Helen Bradford is Colin's godmother, he's been here before. It's a great pool house too. Lots of BOOZE!'

'Steph! Keep it down!' Colin said, louder than Steph.

'Hypocrite much,' Steph grumbled.

Rory tripped over the step into the building, but luckily the guy in front caught her.

'Thanks,' she mumbled, embarrassed.

'Hey, no problem' the guy replied. 'I'm Jake.'

'Rory.' she smiled.

Suddenly, the lights were on and the antique style room was illuminated. To the right was a kitchen, and to the left was a large sitting area. There was a fireplace, with an armchair to one side and a loveseat to the other, and facing it was a huge couch. On oriental rug covered the whole floor.

Jake went over to the fireplace and switched on the electric fire, while the others positioned themselves on the couch and the floor around the coffee table. That is with the exception of Finn and Logan who were pushing the drinks cart over. Finn went over to the fridge in search of beer, and came back with a six pack in each hand. Once everyone had a drink, Finn raised his bottle up and declared,

'Ladies and Gentlemen, the sub-party may now officially begin!' and with that, he flung his head back and took a swig of his beer. Everybody else followed suit, except after they had all swallowed their gulp, Finn was still going. At last, he slammed the now empty bottle back down on the coffee table.

For a while, they just joked and drank. But eventually the party descended into its usual drinking games, which Rory opted out of. She sat behind on the couch while the others were placed on the floor around the coffee table, playing truth or dare. She had a good position- she could watch the dares and listen to the truths without any risk of embarrassing herself. Paris had already smoked a whole cigar, Charlie had given Logan a lap dance, and now Colin was preparing to kiss Steph. They were both given each other the angriest glares they could muster up, but finally Colin just went for it. The kiss was short due to the ridiculous stubbornness they both possessed, but it was obvious to everyone else that they both wanted more. There was a bit of an awkward silence following the kiss, as nobody wanted to ruin their moment, until as usual, Finn stepped in.

'Kitten, I want a turn! Why should Colin get to kiss you when I can't?'

The answer was obvious to everyone considering the tension that was currently filling the room, but the look on Colin's face at the suggestion was just too hilarious.

'Yeah. I want a turn too.' Logan added, smirking.

Steph was enjoying Colin's discomfort immensely, so replied 'Okay boys. We can spin the bottle to see who goes first.'

'What about me?' Charlie interjected.

'Yes. What about us?' Paris said. 'Stephanie isn't the only girl in the room, you know.'

'Why don't we just play spin the bottle?' Rory asked, very quietly.

'Love, that's a great idea! I for one would like to kiss as many girls as possible.'

'Ew Finn! Again, we don't wanna know!' Steph exclaimed.

'Let's make it more interesting. How about the first person has to close their eyes, and then they have to guess who kissed them.' Colin suggested.

'Nah,' Jake replied. 'I want to play a drinking game.'

'Fine.' some other guy replied. 'If they know who it is, they take a drink. If they don't, we take a drink.'

'But what if their wrong?' Rosemary questioned. 'That would be kind of embarrassing.'

'Tell the person next to you your guess, so that only one person knows. Then they either do or don't take a drink, and everyone else copies.'

'Let's just play already!' Logan shouted, grinning.

'Oh, and by kiss, we mean make out!' somebody added.

Juliet grinned evilly. 'If it's not good enough, you have to do it again!'

Someone dimmed the lights, so Rory could only make out the faces of the people near her. Paris was on her left, and Jake was on her right. Finn decided he should be in charge of spinning the bottle, so leaning forward, he positioned it on the table and flicked it around. First it stopped in front of a girl sitting on the other side of Jake that Rory didn't know, who closed her eyes. Finn spun it again and it landed on Paris, who with a roll of her eyes, moved to sit in front of the girl. She leant forward and kissed her quickly but surely, then pulled away and moved back to her seat. The girl opened her eyes and whispered something in Jake's ear, who burst out laughing and took a drink.

'Why is that so funny? I couldn't have been that far off!' She said indignantly.

As Finn spun the bottle again, Rory leant over to Jake, and asked him who the girl guessed. In response, he tapped his nose. The bottle landed on Logan next. Rory inhaled sharply. It occurred to her that this was her chance to show Logan what he had been missing. She tried to catch Finn's eye, but he had no control over where the bottle stopped and to her dismay, it landed on Steph. Steph looked at her as if to say 'Is this okay?' to which Rory nodded, knowing that she couldn't object, especially with Logan's date here.

Steph crawled over to him, took a deep breath, and kissed him. Unlike Paris, Steph's kiss was longer. Rory couldn't look away. It killed her to see Steph's face- she was obviously battling with herself. Part of her didn't want to hurt Rory, but Logan was a good kisser, and Rory knew that Steph would do anything to make Colin jealous. She broke her gaze and looked over at him. Colin had fixated his best angry glare on the Steph and Logan, who were still at it. 'Surely that's good enough?' Rory thought.

She heard the door to the pool house open, and the shuffle of people making room for whoever had come in to sit down, but she didn't look away. At this point, Steph was trying to pull away, but Logan wouldn't let her. Rory wasn't sure what to think. Was she even mad? It occurred to her that though she was hurt, the rational part of her brain was prevailing. It was just a game.

Finally Steph returned to her place across the circle, and as soon as he opened his eyes, Logan looked at Steph, smirking.

'Steph.' he said, and before anyone could reply, took a drink.

'How did you know?' Charlie asked, a little put out.

'You forget, Steph and I have been friends since we were born.' he reminded the group.

There was another silence, as each person tried to figure out what that could mean, but this time it was Paris that broke it.

'They've obviously kissed before.' she said, then turning to Colin, said 'You need to chill out.'

Rory was stunned. She'd never thought the day would come when she would hear Paris say 'Chill out'.

'Let's just keep playing.' she finished.

Finn spun the bottle again. As it stopped, Rory's eyes widened. Why her? Slowly, she closed her eyes.

* * *

He walked in on a game of spin the bottle that had obviously been adapted to include more drinking. He party had been the most boring three hours of his life. He had socialised with all manner of relatives and family friends, and was just in need of a break. Finally, he had escaped and had wandered outside. He meandered down a cobbled path, just planning to take a short walk to clear his head when he heard laughter. He turned the corner around a hedge and came across the pool house, full of kids his age.

Logan knew he was coming to this party. After all, he had been back since Christmas. But he had asked Logan not to say anything. He didn't want anybody that he didn't already know to judge him based on his name.

Having stepped inside, he looked around. He recognised Logan and Steph, who were engaged in some serious liplock, and some of the guys, as well as a few of the girls from before he left Hartford, but nobody else. He sat himself down next to a blonde-haired girl, and surveyed the faces of the circle. Suddenly, he stopped. His eyes widened as they fell on the blue-eyed girl. What was she doing here?

The Australian that had spun the bottle nodded to him as if to ask if he was playing. He nodded back, then continued watching Rory, who was so obviously pained by the couple kissing across the circle. He wondered if she knew what had happened between them, but that thought was broken by Paris' commanding voice.

Ah, Paris. He wondered if she would recognise him. No, it was too dark. He'd just have to wait until that one played out.

The guy spun the bottle again. He watched as it landed on Rory, and smirked as her eyes widened in surprise. Some things never change. Unwillingly, she closed her eyes and waited as the bottle was flicked around.

It slowed down to his left and stopped right in front of him. He grinned, and moved across the circle.

* * *

Rory heard the bottle spin, and she could feel someone move over to her. She tensed. She was overwhelmed with the smell of expensive cologne. 'It must be a guy,' she thought. He moved towards her very slowly, as if he was giving her a chance to back out, although he knew she wouldn't. She could feel the cold radiating off of him like an icy draft. He must have been furthest from the fire, she deduced. But just as she was beginning to recall who was sitting there, she felt his lips meet hers.

They were warm and soft, a sharp contrast to his cold cheek, and she wanted nothing more than to spread the warmth all over. She brought her hands up to his cheeks and felt him lean farther over her. There was something so familiar that filled her with nostalgia, like she was visiting somewhere she hadn't been since she was little. She felt his tongue swipe over her lips, reminding her that they had to make out, or do it again, although she wouldn't have minded kissing the mystery man once more. She opened her mouth just enough to let him in, and felt him kiss her more thoroughly. It couldn't be Logan; he would have gone straight in right away. No, this mystery man was exploring, and almost savouring her. Just as she was about to ask him for access, he broke away. She fought the incredible urge to open her eyes long enough for him to return to his place.

She looked around, trying to see each and everybody sitting around the circle. There were some blonde girls near the door that she couldn't quite make out, but that was okay considering she was positive she had been kissed by a guy. She tried to think of who would've kissed her like that. It was so intense, so there must have been some attraction there. Her eyes fell on Jake, and she decided it must have been him, even though he was sitting right next to her. She whispered her answer to Paris, who answered angrily, 'No.'

'Paris, are you all right?' Rory asked.

'I'm fine.' she spat out, before taking a huge sip of her vodka tonic.

The bottle was spun again, this time landing on Finn himself.

'Mates, Kittens, you are in for a treat!'

'Shut up, Finn.' Colin said as he leaned forward and spun the bottle.

It landed on Rosemary, who groaned, then turned to her left and kissed Finn hard and fast. Just as he was getting over his original surprise at such a forceful kiss, she pulled away.

'That doesn't count! I didn't get to kiss back!' he exclaimed.

'Poor you, Finny. But we rule that it counted.' Steph said, smirking.

'Fine.' he sulked. Then, turning to Rosemary, he whispered his guess in her ear. She turned bright red and Finn, tilting his head back, finished his beer.

'Let's watch a movie!' Charlie said perkily.

'I don't think we have time, I mean, we should probably be getting back' Colin replied.

Rory looked down at her watch. 'Guys, it's ten thirty!'

'Shit!' Logan swore. 'I guess we'll have to get the caterers to let us out.'

'What about our rides?' Paris questioned.

'Finn, Charlie, and I came in a limo, as did Juliet and Rosemary.'

'Yeah, we did too.' a voice Rory didn't recognise called out.

'Okay. We can just spit into three groups of people going the same way.' said Steph.

Everyone got up and eventually there were three groups, one of people going back to New Haven, and two dropping off around Hartford. Then they straightened out the room, and filled the dishwasher with all of their glasses. Colin flicked off the lights and they all headed out into the dark.

It was freezing and pitch black apart from the light from the main house. Rory stumbled and shivered the whole way back, all the while telling Paris to be quiet whenever she complained. Finally the group reached the door they had left from, with nobody left behind in various parts of the garden. They stepped inside and relished in the warmth, before locating the room that held their coats. The caterers were almost done packing up, and gave them some weird looks, but other than that nobody said anything.

Rory walked out to the limo she was riding in, accompanied by Paris, Logan and Charlie. Great. Now she was going to have to deal with them for the whole ride back to grandma's. Charlie started giggling as soon as they got in the car, and Rory couldn't help but roll her eyes, which of course Paris picked up on.

'Would you just stop? You're making me want to puke all over you.' Paris grumbled.

'Lighten up,' Charlie replied, 'It's not my fault you don't have a date.'

'What?! Listen up, you dumbass, you're too stupid to even know…' Paris was cut off by Rory's hand over her mouth. As Rory retracted it, Paris opened her mouth in response but was silenced by the death glare Rory gave her.

The rest of the journey passed in a tense quiet, as Logan and Charlie tried to be subtle and Paris and Rory tried to ignore them. Finally, the got to the Gilmore estate. Rory got out of the car, thanking the driver, and walked up to the house, only to be confronted by darkness. Nobody was awake, not even her grandpa! The maid had gone home, and there was no one to let her in. Rory sighed, then walked back to the limo.

'They've gone to sleep, and I don't feel like scaling the wall and climbing in a window.'

'Relax Ace, you can just stay at mine.'

'In the guest room, right?' Charlie asked, jealous.

Rory turned bright red. She hadn't considered that Charlie might be going home with Logan, actually definitely would be going home with Logan. There was no way she was staying at his house while he had another girl there.

'She can stay with me.' Paris said.

'Glad that's sorted!' Charlie said with a fake smile.

The limo pulled up at Paris' parents' estate, and the two of them got out. Paris strode up to the front door, but Rory lagged behind. She threw one last glance over the receding limo, imagining what was going inside, before moping up the walk to join Paris at the door.

'Are you okay?' Paris asked in a soft voice, unusual for her.

Rory replied a little too harshly 'I'm fine.'

'Well, it's not like I care anyway. Guest room's upstairs, the second room on the left.' she said with her façade back up.

'Thanks,' Rory replied with a smile that Paris didn't return.

She followed Paris upstairs but she disappeared around a corner too quickly for Rory to keep up. She located the door that Paris had mentioned, and stepped into the room. It was huge, with a queen size bed and soft green walls, and everything from the curtains to the duvet was trimmed in gold. There was an ensuite bathroom freshly stocked with fluffy towels, also gold trimmed, as well as an antique closet. It was then that Rory realised she had no pyjamas, or anything to sleep in for that matter. Sighing, she deposited her purse on the chair next to the bed and went in search of Paris.

* * *

He had escaped the party while everyone else was dealing with rides home, and was now speeding down a residential road towards his parents' house. He hated staying there, but at least the bed was comfortable. The roads were empty so he made it there in no time. Good, this way Paris wouldn't be asleep by the time he got there.

He hoped that the maid was still up to let him in, even though he was only making a quick stop. After punching the code in to the keypad, he pulled into the drive and sure enough, there was a light on in the foyer. He walked up to the door and knocked quietly, so as not to disturb his parents. The maid opened up, and after persuading her to leave the door unlocked when she left, he slipped upstairs to his bedroom where he retrieved a shoebox. Then he went back downstairs, apologised to the maid, and headed over to Paris' house.

He hoped that the engine on his Porsche wasn't too loud as he manoeuvred his way into a spot near her house. Parallel parking was not his forté. Finally, he got out of the car and made his way over to the door, but none of the downstairs lights were on. Lucky he knew which room was hers, he thought as he retrieved some pebbles from the drive. He threw a few at her window, gently enough so as not to leave a mark but with enough force for her to hear them.

'I've never felt more cheesy in my life,' he mumbled, just as Paris looked out to see who it was. She glared at him for a moment before making her way downstairs and opening up the front door.

She was dressed in nothing except for her matching tank top and shorts set, her skin inappropriately bare for the frosty February weather.

'Stop staring at me and come inside, I'm freezing.' she grumbled before closing the door behind him.

She headed upstairs, assuming he would follow her.

'We're moving a little fast here, don't you think? But if you're ready…' he trailed off, smirking.

'Fuck off, I'm not in the mood for your retarded jokes.' she replied, snarling.

'Okay, okay!' He put his hands in the air in mock surrender, but gave in and followed her up the stairs.

He stepped inside and closed the door.

'Are you crazy? Who do you think you are, showing up here?' she screamed.

'I'm sorry I didn't warn you first! You'd think you would be happy to see me.'

'I don't care about that! In fact, I am happy to see you, considering I thought you'd _died_!'

'What?'

'You told me you were going to Iraq, and suddenly we went from a letter a week to no contact!'

'Again, what?'

'I thought you'd been shot, captured, taken prisoner, I don't know! I still don't even understand how you got yourself deployed that quickly after enrolling.'

'Paris, what are you talking about?'

She took a deep breath, and started calmly. 'You told me you were going to Iraq. I refrained from commenting on your rash decision to enrol, because I thought you'd be in training for a while. Then suddenly you just stopped writing to me! I thought you'd been sent out and killed!'

'I'm still here, aren't I?'

'Obviously!'

'We have to clear this up.'

'Huh?'

'I went to Iraq as an intern, to get a feel for life in the military. I didn't enrol.'

'Why didn't you tell me that? Do you know how much worrying I did? I don't worry! At least, not about other people!'

'I didn't think about it.'

'Why'd you do it?'

'What?'

'The internship.'

'Just wanted to keep my options open.'

'I never thought I'd see the day when _you_ of all people started planning for your future.'

'I never thought I'd see the day when _you_ invited me upstairs,' he shot back.

'What's that?' she asked, looking at the shoebox he had deposited on the side table.

'All the letters.'

'You kept those? Anyone could think we're secret lovers.' she joked.

'Well, I am in your bedroom…' he smirked.

'Get out.' Paris replied, although she was smiling.

'Gladly.' he paused. 'Paris, could you do me a favor?'

'Yeah?'

'Don't tell Rory I'm here.'

'I'm not stupid, there's a reason she doesn't already know.'

'Thanks.'

'Anytime.'

* * *

Rory was creeping down the hallway that she'd seen Paris go down, when she heard voices. She figured they must be coming from Paris' room. 'Good, that'll make it easier to find.'

As she neared the door, she could make out the high-pitched tone of Paris' voice, but she couldn't recognise the other one. Whoever it was was talking very quietly, even though Paris didn't seem to care.

'I thought…shot….prisoner….understand…deployed….' Paris screeched.

Rory could only understand fragments of what she was saying, and couldn't hear anything in response. She waited for a moment, before she heard Paris again.

'Just stopped writing…sent out and killed!'

Is she okay? Did somebody she knew die? Then she heard the response.

I'm still here, aren't I?'

It was a guy. There was a guy in Paris' room that almost died.

Rory tiptoed back to her bedroom. She decided she would just sleep in her underwear, but opened up a drawer in the dresser in some vain hope that the Gellers stored clothes there. To her delight, she pulled out a matching set of flannel button down pjs. She changed into them, then crawled into bed.

She should have fallen asleep right away. After all, she had never been in a bed that comfy, and never worn pyjamas that soft. But she laid awake for a while, and even as she drifted off to sleep, she had one thought;

Who was Paris talking to?

* * *

 _A/N- Btw military internships do exist, but I have no idea what you do in them._


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N- This chapter starts with a new scene at the beginning of s5 ep16. The second scene is the one in the episode where they meet in the courtyard at Yale before Logan hands in his paper, when they make out and talk about Hemingway._

 _-I realized that a) Emily is on her honeymoon in ep 15 so the party doesn't really make sense, b) Luke and Lorelai have broken up, and c) Emily and Lorelai aren't speaking so Lorelai getting out of the party also doesn't really make sense, so there are some changes from the show to my fanfic that I need to explain._

 _Emily and Richard don't go on their honeymoon from their vow renewal in ep 13 until after the party- they postponed it so they could go._

 _Also, Luke and Lorelai didn't break up, but Lorelai is still mad at Emily for trying to interfere. Rory doesn't know that Emily was involved._

 _-Hopefully everything will make sense now- I would change my version except I've already published chapter 2 and written all of chapter 3 so I don't really want to go back and change it. Thanks for reading this giant author's note!_

 _-I don't own Gilmore Girls_

 **Chapter 4- So…Good Talk**

'Hey Ace.'

'Logan.' she answered cooly.

Rory had been avoiding him all week. It was difficult, considering it meant she had to hide from her friends, but at least she could spend some quality time with Paris. That had gotten old very quickly.

'So where've you been?'

'Around.' she replied vaguely.

'Seriously, I haven't seen you all week!' he laughed. 'What have you been so busy with that you couldn't see me?'

After Rory had decided that she couldn't deal with Paris any longer, she had thrown herself into her work. It was midterms week after all.

'I've been studying.'

'Really?' Logan mocked.

'Uh, yeah. It is midterms, Logan.'

'Other girls don't study as much as you do, that's all.'

'Those other girls don't want to do well.' she countered.

'Aren't there more important things in life?'

'You'd know.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' he asked, a little warily.

'Nothing, just that you are well acquainted with the other girls doing the more important things who aren't going to pass their tests.'

'Are you saying I only like idiots? Because you know that's not true.' Rory could hear the smirk in his voice.

'I don't know, you must find something in them more attractive.'

'Like what?'

'The whole blonde bimbo image. That seems to be a recurring theme. Oh, and girls who are dumb enough to keep throwing themselves at you. That is a definite sign of idiocy that you obviously enjoy.'

'Who specifically are we talking about here, Rory?'

'I don't know.'

'Charlie?'

'Maybe.'

'It seems like you're jealous.'

'I am not jealous!' Rory replied indignantly, 'That's ridiculous.'

'If it makes you feel any better, watching you kiss Finn made my blood boil.'

Rory ignored the cheesy line. 'Really?' she replied in a small voice.

'Yeah. And besides, I only took Charlie to that party cause I thought you wouldn't want to come. Then my boiling blood made me take her home with me.'

She had come very close to getting over her outrage, but mentioning the sleepover was a mistake.

'Oh.'

'Wait, wait. I didn't hook up with her, if that's what you're thinking. We made out a little, then went to sleep.'

'Oh.' Rory said again. Then, with a more casual tone, 'But we are in a non-exclusive relationship,' she reminded him. 'You can do what you want with who you want.'

'Then why have you been so distant all week?'

'I told you already. Studying.'

'That wasn't an excuse?' he said, disbelieving.

'Nope.' she smiled. But then she frowned. 'What's your excuse? It's not like you talked to me.'

'I've been planning a trip.'

'Where to?'

'Me and the guys are going skiing.'

'Which guys?'

'Just Colin and Finn right now, but this may end up being a whole group thing.'

'What, like Jake and Seth?'

'Yeah, but you should come too!'

'Logan, you know I'm going to see my mom.'

'Blow off the Hollow! I'll even invite Steph.'

'First of all, I'm not gonna blow off my mom. Second of all, do you think one other girl will entice me into coming on a trip with a whole bunch of guys.'

'Fine. But if you change your mind…'

'Bye Logan.' she said forcefully.

A little dejected, he replied 'Bye Ace.'

* * *

Logan kissed her one last time, before pulling away.

They were in a corner of the courtyard, where Logan had found her on his way to drop off his last paper before the ski trip.

'You'll call me from the cabin?'

Logan smiled.

'Absolutely.'

'Thanks for the coffee.'

'Anytime.' He began to walk away, then turned around. 'Better have that million bucks ready by the time I get back, and I don't accept coins.' he smirked.

'No promises.' she replied.

Rory headed in the other direction, but as soon as he was out of sight, she sighed and leant back against a crumbling wall.

She sighed. He made her so happy. It was like he couldn't keep his hands off of her, the way he lead her into that corner. One little conversation had made him want to make out with her. And he seemed so proud of his paper, which of course made her happy. He wouldn't even let her see it just in case something happened which meant he couldn't turn it in. But nothing made her happier than his knowledge of Hemingway, even if he was wrong about the manuscript.

Yet she found herself frowning.

* * *

Rory pushed open the front door, arms loaded with laundry bags, and she could barely get through the hall. The traffic from New Haven had been terrible, but at least she was home in Stars Hollow.

'Hello?' she called, her voice tired.

'Kitchen!' came the cheery reply.

'Give me a hand!' Rory demanded.

Lorelai only clapped in response.

'Okay, Bob Hope's laughing in heaven but I'm not.'

'Bob Hope got in to heaven?' Lorelai asked in mock surprise.

'Grab a bag.'

The two went outside to the washer drier and after arguing about Lorelai's load of two socks, Rory put a load in. Finally, they headed back inside to their coffee.

There was an unusual and slightly awkward silence.

'Rory…' Lorelai started.

'Yeah Mom?' she said, a little apprehensive.

'I need to tell you something.'

'Okay…'

'Remember that fight Luke and I got in at that vow renewal, about your dad?'

'Yeah…'

'Well, the only reason Chris said what he said was because my mother told him it was his last chance.'

'What!'

'Yeah, she wanted us to get back together.'

'Why would she do that?!'

'I don't now, maybe because Luke is a diner owner who isn't from Hartford and isn't the father of my daughter?'

'She still doesn't have a reason to break you up!' Rory exclaimed. Then, in a smaller voice, 'Why didn't you tell me?'

'I guess I just didn't want to mess with your relationship with Grandma, especially considering you have to go to Friday Night Dinner.'

'Is that why you didn't want to go to the party?'

'Yeah.' she replied guiltily.

Rory stopped for a moment, before raising her voice. 'So when were you going to tell me, huh? Were you just gonna let me go and think everything's all right when it isn't?!'

'No! That's why I'm telling you now. I realised it wasn't fair to keep you in the dark.'

'Mom! I already went to that stupid party and made small talk with her! She probably thinks I know but don't care!'

'I'm sorry.'

Rory frowned. 'I guess it's okay.'

'What time are you leaving?' Lorelai attempted small talk.

'I don't know. I'm going to Lane's.' Rory said quickly before leaving the house just as fast.

* * *

'Hello?'

'My room!' Lane called.

Rory was out of breath, but upon seeing her best friend, still managed to squeal 'Lane!'

'Rory!'

'How are you?'

'I hit the record store in Hartford yesterday, so good. What's going on with you?'

'Well, I have FND tonight.'

'Friday Night Dinner? That's bad.'

'I know.'

'Yeah, especially with that whole Emily-tried-to-mess-up-Luke-and-Lorelai-and-now-is-pretending-nothing-happened thing.'

'I know.'

'That's going to be awkward.'

'I know. How did you know about the whole Grandma-tried-to-ruin-Mom-and-Luke's-relationship thing?'

'I'm working at Luke's, remember?'

'I just can't believe Mom didn't tell me until now! And she lied about it! And at the party, I spoke to Grandma! I never want to speak to her again!'

'Then don't talk to her tonight. Say something simple yet ominous, like 'I know.' and narrow your eyes, then blank her for the rest of the night.'

'Urrgggh! I don't want to be mad at mom, you know? But she didn't tell me, and it hurts.' Rory said sadly.

'Then we'll change the subject. Any boy drama? You know I live vicariously through you.'

'There's this thing with Logan.'

'Ooh! Tell me about it.'

'I bumped into him in the courtyard. We talked a little, then he pulled me off into a corner and made out with me.'

'Pause. You guys made up?'

'Yeah, he called me last night.'

'Then I'm not understanding why this is a bad thing.'

'That's just it! It shouldn't be. He obviously wants me, which is great, and he just wrote a paper that he is really proud of, so he's actually working hard, which is also great.'

'But…'

'But nothing! We even talked about Hemingway! I haven't talked about Hemingway with a guy outside of class since Jess!'

'Ah.'

'What?' Rory questioned, smiling.

'Well, the whole thing sounds very Jess-esque. I mean, how long has it been since you've been kissed in a very public place?'

'A week. Remember Finn at the party?'

'That doesn't count. Jess was the one you were making out with all over town, and with Logan you were making out in a visible spot on campus. Plus, Hemingway was a Jess thing and now Logan is talking about it.

'I guess it is a little familiar…but I don't think that's it.'

'Why not?'

'For starters, I haven't seen Jess in a while. I haven't even thought about him in a while.'

'But Logan didn't call.'

'What?'

'Hold your horses. Jess didn't call you, remember? He always said he'd call, so you waited but then he didn't. I guess Logan didn't explicitly say he'd call, but as you are in a relationship, even if it is non-exclusive, and after him bringing a different date it is kind of expected. But he didn't call, just like Jess.'

'Logan and Jess are not the same person.'

'I know that, but maybe that's why it seems a little weird.'

'Maybe…' Rory paused. 'If Logan couldn't keep his hands off me then, why did he stay away for a whole week?'

'He was probably waiting for you to make the first move. After all, you did kiss Finn in front of him. Therefore, shouldn't you be the one to reach out?'

'I don't know. I thought he would since he was the one who brought a different date.'

'You both made each other jealous so both expected the other one to make the first move.'

'That sums it up.'

'Besides, he obviously missed you.' Lane said, raising an eyebrow and smirking.

'I guess.'

'He is aware of what he's missing, right?' Lane asked, trying to be subtle.

'Oh yeah. He knows.'

'Are you gonna tell Lorelai?'

'That I'm sleeping with him?'

'I guess she isn't going to understand if you say 'Logan's aware', so yeah, are you gonna tell her that you're sleeping with him?'

'It's about time, I mean, I did promise her that I'd tell her about my boyfriends. I guess our weird relationship counts.'

'Wait- what time do you have to leave?' Lane interrupted.

'Six twenty, why?'

'I hate to break it to you, but it's six twenty-five.'

'Crap! Oh well, I should still be on time if I leave now.'

She leant in for a hug, but Lane ushered her down the stairs. 'Go! Go! If you're late I'll never see you again so get a move on!'

And with that, Rory ran out of the house, jumped in her car, and sped away.

* * *

Rory was laying in her familiar bed, staring up at the ceiling. The clock read 11:48. It had been an hour since she had turned off the lights, yet she was still awake. She just couldn't stop thinking.

Dinner had lasted forever. She arrived at seven, talked to her grandpa during drinks, and managed to avoid Emily until they sat down to eat. The few words they did exchange during dinner were short and every conversation Emily attempted to begin was promptly shut down. For the first 45 minutes, Emily obviously had no idea what was going on, until Richard mentioned Lorelai.

'So Rory, how is your mother?' Richard asked, smiling.

Rory was surprised that he hadn't asked earlier in the evening. Was he aware of the feud between the other Gilmore women?

'She's good. Right now she is on a date with Luke.' Rory replied with a pointed look at Emily.

Her grandmother's eyes narrowed before widening in understanding, but as she was about to say something, Richard spoke again.

'Good, good.'

'How's her inn?' Emily ventured to say.

'Fine.' came Rory's answer.

'That's it? Fine?'

Rory gave an extraordinarily fake smile. 'Great!'

At the menacing tone of Rory's voice, Emily was quiet.

The rest of the evening continued in the same way; long exchanges with her grandpa about books and travel, with a few monosyllables thrown Emily's way when required.

When she had arrived home, her mother was sitting on the couch watching tv, but instead of sitting down with her, Rory went straight to her bedroom. She knew it was a little unfair, but she just didn't feel like dealing with her mother just then.

So she went to bed, but she couldn't sleep.

She wondered if her mom was still awake. Yeah, she wished that she'd been told about the Emily thing earlier, but if she was still mad at her mom then sticking up for her during dinner was pointless. Besides, she only didn't tell her because she didn't want to cause problems between Rory and Emily. And how long was she really going to hold a grudge?

Suddenly she felt a pang of loneliness, and before she knew it, she was heading up the stairs to her mom's room.

She stopped at the door, before pushing it open a crack.

'Mom?' she whispered.

Lorelai sat straight up in bed.

'I was just going to come down to you! I can't sleep.'

'Yeah, me neither.'

'I just kept thinking about how I went to bed without talking to you and how unfair it was to you and how you had all the right motives for not telling me Mommy I'm sorry!'

'I just kept thinking about how I should have told you sooner. I just didn't want you to have to fight with them too. I'm sorry!'

'It's okay, Mom.'

'It's okay, Rory.'

Lorelai pulled Rory into a tight embrace, and held her until she fell asleep, and after Rory was snoring soundly, she tucked her in next to her.

* * *

Luke looked up from the counter as Lorelai and Rory walked in. They smiled over at him before taking their usual seats.

'So just to be clear, you guys are good, right?' Rory asked.

'Oh yeah, all good.' Lorelai answered with a smirk.

'Dirty!'

'Remember who taught you that, Missy.'

'Whatever. I want coffee!'

'Lukey, bring me coffee!' Lorelai called in a baby voice.

'Not if you call me 'Lukey'.' he responded gruffly before heading into the kitchen.

Lorelai turned back around, but Rory didn't say anything.

'Something wrong?' she asked. 'Is this about Grandma?' she paused but there was no answer. 'Do I have to ask 18 more of these?'

'You know how with Dean things didn't go exactly the way I planned?

'You mean with you and him getting together?'

'No.' she sighed. 'I mean yes, that too, but I promised that I would come to you and talk to you when I was ready to…' she gestured the rest.

Lorelai raised an eyebrow, but Rory continued. 'But I didn't because it all happened so fast and I didn't get a chance, and then everything got so messed up and after it was weird, the situation was weird, and I didn't feel comfortable coming to talk to you about anything concerning that at all.'

Lorelai interrupted. You can always talk to me, even when it's weird.' she said firmly.

'I know. That's what I want to do. I want to go back to talking about everything, just like before Dean.'

'I see that.'

'So I thought I would come talk to you about Logan!' Rory finished cheerfully.

Lorelai's eyes widened, but she tried to cover up her surprise. 'Ohh,' she replied slowly, 'Okay.'

'I wanna tell you now so you'll hear it from me right when it's starting.' she smiled.

'Right when it's starting? Oh, got it, so the two of you are starting something, huh?' she tried to keep a happy expression plastered on her face.

'Yes. We have definitely started something.'

'Started! Oh, you've already started something! Wow. Okay, fast.'

Rory's smile faltered a little. 'I know, but he's great.'

'Don't you think you should slow down a little? I mean, you kissed him for the first time just a few weeks ago!'

'First of all, you don't necessarily know that that was the first time.'

'It wasn't?' she interrupted.

'No, it was, but that's not the point.'

'What is the point?'

'You don't know what he's like. If I say he's great, you need to accept that.'

'But I've met him! He might seem great, but trust me, I know his type. They're perfect until they knock you up!'

'Why would you even compare Logan to Dad? The only thing they have in common is their hair color!'

'I know their type, Rory. Let me guess, he parties hard, and is wild but has enough money to get him out of trouble when he needs it so he doesn't give a crap about consequences or other people at all.'

'You've met him once!'

'Sex is a big deal, Rory. I thought you learnt that with Dean, but I guess not.'

'Maybe it's not such a big deal! Did you ever think of that? Maybe it's just something that's meant to be enjoyed with people you like, not some huge declaration.'

Lorelai didn't say anything.

'What!' Rory said, raising her voice. It occurred to her that the whole diner had probably been listening to their conversation, but she didn't really care. 'What more do you have to say, Mom?'

'I just don't trust him, kid.'

'Do you trust me?'

'Yes, of course!'

'Then trust me when I say that he is a good person.'

'Just because you think he is a good person doesn't mean you should trust him.'

'Listen to yourself! You obviously don't think I can make my own judgements!'

'No, Rory…'

'You don't trust me to make my own judgements! God, you don't trust me at all!'

'Well look at your life! First Jess, who I said was trouble from the beginning. What did he do? Run away to California and break your heart. And then Dean. Sleeping with Dean was a huge lapse in judgement. So your track record with guys isn't exactly perfect! Excuse me for trying to help you out!'

'I don't need your advice.'

'Fine then.'

'Fine.'

'Fine.' Lorelai said, a little louder.

'FINE!'

Rory stormed out of the diner.

* * *

Rory was sitting alone at the bar. The pub was pretty empty, after all it was mid-afternoon. It was a surprise that it was open.

She had thrown her bags in her dorm before heading out, disgusted with the sounds coming from Paris' bedroom.

'Urgh, why does Paris' boyfriend have to Doyle? Why does Doyle have to be the editor?' She grimaced before slamming the door loudly to alert them to her presence.

She called Steph to see if she was around, although she knew it was a long shot. Almost everyone was on vacation or visiting home. So eventually, she headed to the pub alone.

Fred handed her another coffee. At that moment, she craved nothing more than a beer but unfortunately she didn't turn twenty until next year. At least she had coffee.

The door slammed against the wall as someone burst through it. Both Fred and Rory looked up to see Steph striding towards them.

'I got your message! What's up? Come on, let's go. There's no point drowning your sorrows in something with absolutely no alcohol.' Steph pulled Rory off of her stool and out the door so fast that Rory barely had time to wave goodbye to Fred.

'So, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in the Hollow?'

'Yeah, but Mom and I had a fight so I came back here.'

'Elaborate.'

'Well, long story short I told her that I'm sleeping with Logan, and she freaked.'

'Why is that a thing you tell your mom!'

'I don't know, we are just weirdly close. Anyway, she started telling me how she doesn't trust Logan and it all boiled down to her not trusting me at all.'

'Oh. So why are you here?'

'Well I wasn't going to stay in Stars Hollow where the gossip is spreading! We were screaming in the diner, Steph. The diner full of people eavesdropping, although considering the volume of our voices that couldn't have been very difficult.'

'I get it. But lazing around isn't going to make you feel any better. Let's do something! I'm so bored.'

'Yeah, what are you still doing here?'

'Vacation was cancelled- Dad had to work.'

'That's a pain.'

'Yeah.' they walked in silence for a moment. 'I have an idea! Why don't we go on vacation ourselves! We can even bring Paris, and have a full out girls weekend!'

'I think you are forgetting something called total lack of any funds to pay for it.'

'I'll pay!'

'Sorry Steph, I'm not letting you do that.'

'Fine.' she said dejectedly. Then, she exclaimed, 'How about we join the boys!'

'What?'

'Let's go skiing! We can surprise them!'

She thought for a moment. There was nothing for her to do here, and this way she would get to spend the vacation with not only her best friend, but also Logan.

'Is it only the guys?' Rory asked.

'No! I think Rosemary and Juliet are there, cause Logan wanted them to come with me, but I said I was busy cause I was _supposed_ to be in Mauritius.'

'Can we invite Paris?'

'Sure thing!'

'Okay.' Rory said hesitantly. Then, more firmly, 'Let's go!'

They agreed to meet at Steph's dorm at four, and Rory headed back to her own room. Thankfully, Doyle was gone.

'He had to leave- his parents were expecting him.' Paris explained.

'You know the ski trip that the guys are on?'

'Yeah, what about it?'

'Steph and I are gonna crash it. You wanna come?'

Paris narrowed her eyes, but then exclaimed 'Why not! I'll come!'

Rory smiled and went to her room. As she was packing, it occurred to her that having never been skiing before, she had literally none of the gear, but she figured that there would probably be some to borrow at the chalet. And really, would it be so tragic if she didn't actually have to ski?

She put in her bathing suit just in case there was a hot tub or a pool or something, and packed every single one of her wooly sweaters. Finally, she decided she was finished and made herself some lunch.

Paris walked into the common room decked out in full skit kit- salopettes, an extremely bright jacket, and a bright blue helmet, with her suitcase in one hand and a pair of giant boots in the other. Her skis were strapped across her back. It took Rory everything she had not to burst out laughing.

'Paris, you do know we aren't walking there, right?'

'Oh yeah, I totally thought we were walking the 250 miles' she replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

'Do you want some lunch?'

Paris didn't reply but shuffled over to the counter and made herself a sandwich, refusing any help from Rory.

She sighed, before telling Paris that she would meet her at Steph's, and dragged her suitcase out of the dorm.

* * *

He was at the country club with his grandfather, golfing. He sighed. 'Golf is my least favourite sport,' he thought. Although he hated it, golfing was one of the few times he got to see his grandfather without his own father present.

'Keep up! You're lagging behind!' Janlan called.

'Sorry Gramps,' he replied, before jogging over to the golf cart. It was just starting to move when he jumped on the back.

He smiled as his thoughts returned to a distant memory of him and Paris at the very same country club. Paris had jumped on the back of a golf cart, expecting him to join her, but he had mistimed his jump so ended up running behind it, while Paris shouted at their driver in spanish.

'Gramps, I've just got to make a call.' he said, before hopping off and walking over to the edge of the course.

He dialled in Paris' number, and waited while it rang. After the first ring she picked up.

'Prompt as usual, I see.'

'I don't like to keep people waiting.' she retorted. 'Why are you calling?'

'Remember that time when you jumped on that golf cart?'

'And you didn't? Of course I do.' she replied, somewhat impatiently.

'I'm here golfing with my grandfather, and I just thought of it.'

'So that's the whole purpose of your call?'

'Pretty much.'

'Wow, I never thought I'd see you turn sentimental.'

'You don't know that I was looking at it fondly. Maybe I'm still pissed that you jumped before 3.'

'You're not.'

Just then, he heard Rory's voice in the background. 'Who's that? she called.

'Shit. She's there?'

'Yeah, hold on.' Paris said, before saying away from the phone, 'Doyle. I'm telling him that we're going out of town.'

'Oh, okay.' came Rory's reply.

'Who's Doyle?' he teased.

'My boyfriend. Remind me again why I can't tell her you're back?'

'I don't know, I guess I just want to tell her myself?'

'She's not gonna fall at your feet, you know.'

'Obviously. She never did, and if anything I bet she's grown more stubborn with time.'

Paris was silent for a moment. Then it hit her. 'You want to surprise her! You want to be all romantic so she'll give you another chance!'

'Paris, don't be ridiculous!'

'It's true, not ridiculous.'

'No, Paris, it's not.'

'Why are you denying it? If you're trying to spare my feelings, don't. That ship sailed a long time ago.'

'I'm not looking for a girlfriend. For God's sake, I just got out of the military.'

'So you're just going to revert back to your old ways?'

'Pretty much.'

'Stay away from Rory.'

'What?'

'You heard me. She's in some messed up sleeping around relationship right now, and when she finally dumps his ass I don't want her going into another one of the same kind with you.'

'Okay, okay. But you don't need to worry. Like I said, I'm not looking for a girlfriend.'

'Fine. Bye.' Paris said before hanging up the phone.

He looked down at it, confused. 'Did she just hang up on me?'

He sighed, before heading back over to his grandfather. His earlier good mood had disappeared, and he was left puzzled. He really wasn't going after Rory. He didn't want a relationship. He knew that, but Paris was right. If there was nothing there, besides that kiss of course, why didn't he want her to know he was back?

* * *

'Take the exit!' Paris exclaimed.

'I'm going, I'm going.' Steph said slowly, in an attempt to humour her, although it failed.

'Well go faster. Look! You're about to miss it!'

They were four hours in and trying to negotiate getting from I-91 to I-89. Overall the trip had been pleasant- Paris had been in a surprisingly good mood and even let them turn on the radio! They had taken Steph's SUV that fit all there stuff comfortably. Paris was sat shotgun and Steph drove, while Rory was stretched out across the back bench.

Her stomach rumbled.

'Have we got any snacks?'

'Nah, but we'll be there in an hour.' came Steph's reply.

'Not if you get us lost!' interjected Paris.

Rory closed her eyes and focused on the music in the background. They were on some oldies station, and as the soft guitars strummed she tried to figure out what song was playing. She puzzled for a while before letting her head rest against the door, and drifting off to sleep.

* * *

She awoke with a jolt. It was dark out, but the headlights of the SUV illuminated the side of a house in front of them. Dazed, she found her purse and got out of the car. After a few steps, the outside lights flicked on and revealed the mansion. It sprawled out in front of her, a swiss style Chalet, partly embedded into the side of the mountain. It occurred to her that they must be high up, and sure enough, snow covered everything flat in sight. 'I love snow.' she murmured.

'So do I!' came Steph's perky voice from behind her.

Rory went back to the car and grabbed her suitcase, before following Steph and Paris around to the enormous front door.

'Surprise!' Steph exclaimed as she burst through, but it opened up onto an empty entrance hall. The three went inside and leaving their suitcases in the hall, went in search of the others. They found a wooden staircase and tiptoed down it, until they caught sight of them. The basement was all modern with a lowered section, lined with a couch that the group were spread out on. Their eyes were all focussed on the card game that was unfolding on the coffee table.

Stephanie counted down on her fingers, and then she and Rory jumped off the last step shouting 'Surprise!'

All at once, all of their heads turned around, and Colin spilled his drink.

'Shit!' Colin said, pissed.

'What are you guys doing here?!' Juliet exclaimed happily.

'Thank God! We were totally outnumbered.' Rosemary added.

'Good! Now there are more of you to go around.' Finn proclaimed with an evil smile.

'Jesus, Finn.' Steph said, rolling her eyes.

Rory surveyed the group. Juliet and Rosemary were the only girls. Her eyes fell on Colin, Finn, and Jake, but not Logan.

'Where's Logan?' Paris said.

Rory wondered if Paris had some secret mind reading power she didn't know about, but just then Logan came down the stairs behind them. His eyes widened, but she wasn't sure if it was a good widening.

'Logan?'

'Rory! Uh, what are you doing here?' he asked.

'You invited her, remember!' Steph butted in.

'So I did.' He smiled. Then, leaning towards Rory, whispered 'What made you decide to come?'

'Oh, nothing.'

He smirked, then pulled her towards the couch.

Paris sat down next to her while Logan went to the kitchenette and got them some beers. After searching around on the floor for the bottle opener, he handed them over and sat down on Rory's other side.

She was already intensely watching the game- it was Gin Rummy, something she knew how to play. Yet she was on edge. She kept expecting Logan to throw his arm around her, but instead he sat stiffly next to her. She frowned and finished her beer.

'That's not fair!' came a cry from Finn.

'I hate to break it to you, but there's nothing you can do.' Jake replied.

'Yeah,' Colin added. 'You lost fair and square.'

'I need another drink.' Finn said sadly.

'I'll go.' Rory got up and grabbed a six pack from the mini-fridge. 'Who wants one?'

Finn, Steph, Jake, Rosemary, and Logan all put up their hands like little schoolchildren, and Rory tossed one to each of them, saving one for herself. She sat back down and this time took the initiative, snuggling into Logan's side. He tensed, before relaxing against her. She smiled.

Sometime during the course of the evening, someone had found an old comedy. There were random bursts of laughter from everyone, but those quickly escalated into full blown hysteria due to the beers that just kept coming.

'Mates, I declare that tomorrow we must go on a hunt for something else to drink. I vote vodka! All in favor say Aye!' Finn shouted.

'Aye!' came a chorus of slightly drunk voices.

Logan smiled and pulled Rory's arm so that she was draped across his lap, before leaning over and kissing her passionately. Rory was losing herself in the kiss when someone wolf whistled, brining her out of chance and awaking her usual voice of reason.

'What was that about?' she murmured.

'I just missed you.' Logan grinned, before giggling and kissing her again.

Paris leaned over and whispered in Rory's ear 'Be careful. He's so drunk he'll probably forget a condom, so make sure you have one.'

'It's nice to know somebody's looking out for me.' Rory whispered back with a hint of sarcasm.

'You know, I can hear you.' Logan attempted to whisper, but failed miserably.

'You can?' she replied slyly.

'Oh yeah. I've got some upstairs.' he smirked.

Rory said nothing but kissed him again. By now the group had refocussed on the screen, so when Logan pulled her off the couch nobody noticed.

'Let's go up.'

'Okay' Rory replied confidently.

Maybe it was because she wanted to prove her mother wrong, but something in her had been awakened so she followed Logan up the wooden stairs. They passed through the landing before heading up another set, this time made of stone. The second they reached the top of the stairs their lips locked and stayed locked while Logan fumbled around, trying to find the door to his bedroom. Finally his hand rested on the doorknob, and the pair fell through the door. Rory stubbed her toe on something, causing her to open her eyes. It was then that she noticed a blonde, only dressed in a lacy red matching bra and underwear set, spread out on the bed. Her jaw dropped as she gazed incredulously at the girl, before turning to Logan, her eyes sparkling with tears.

'What is Charlie doing here?'

* * *

 _A/N- I know it sucks that we are four chapters in with no trory action, but I promise he will be in the next chapter for real. He was supposed to be in this one but it got too long (5,900 words!). Also, not sure how I feel about the sort of cliff hanger, but it just seemed like a good place to stop._


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N- I don't own Gilmore Girls_

 **Chapter 5- Stowe Mountain, VT**

At the mention of her name, Charlie raised her head. Her hair was mussed, and Rory wondered if that was from sleep or something else.

'Rory, I can explain…' Logan started, slurring a little, but before he could continue Rory started backing away towards the door.

At the door frame, she turned around and fled back down the stairs, and then down the second set to the basement. The sound of her tears caused everyone to turn around, but it was Steph who got up.

She went over to the bottom step, where Rory was now sitting, before sitting down next to her and enveloping her in a deep embrace. 'Shhhhhh, it'll be okay,' she comforted, trying to hush Rory's tears.

With a nod to Colin, Steph took Rory's hand in hers and led her up the stairs, Colin following closely behind. When they reached the second floor, Steph and Colin got the bags they had deposited in the hall earlier, and carried them up the stairs, all the while Rory trailing behind.

Colin led them over to one of the doors.

'Here, you can share this room.' he said, before opening the door and positioning their bags inside. It didn't go unnoticed that it was the farthest room from Logan's.

Not speaking, but still sniffing, Rory went inside and sat down on the kingsize bed. Steph joined her without hesitating.

'Do you wanna talk about it?' Steph asked kindly.

'No.' Rory managed to get out, before falling back into tears once again. Perhaps it was the alcohol, but for some reason she just couldn't stop crying.

'Come here.' Steph said, before leaning back against the pillows and positioning Rory's head on her shoulder. She sighed as she looked at Rory's vulnerable figure. How could Logan do this? It was one thing forcing Rory into a non-exclusive relationship, but flaunting it in front of her gave a whole knew meaning to the phrase 'dick move.' The worst part was that he would never even admit it, since technically Rory was the one that suggested the non-exclusive relationship. But anybody with eyes could see that it was killing her, and if he actually cared he would do something about it.

Finally Rory's hiccups turned to little sighs as she slept, so Steph slipped out from under her, and crept out of the room.

She stormed down the hall to Logan's room, where she knocked forcefully on the door.

'Logan, you better open up, because for every second you leave me out here I'm gonna kick your ass that much harder.' she threatened.

There was no reply.

'I'm serious.'

Still no answer.

'Fine.' she said, and she twisted the doorknob. She'd expected it to be locked, but instead the door opened easily.

'Logan, I swear…' she shouted, but stopped as soon as she caught sight of the two figures on the bed. She had walked in on Logan and Charlie heavily making out.

'What the hell! Rory is bawling her eyes out in the other room, and you are here, making out with the reason!"

'Hey, it's not my fault she's so high strung.' Charlie said matter-of-factly.

'This has nothing to do with you. This is all on Logan' Steph replied darkly.

'Fuck off, Steph.' Logan slurred.

'Uh, no. My best friend just cried herself to sleep because of you.'

'You were my friend first.' he wined.

'Again, nothing to do with it! God, I never knew you were such an asshole.'

'Get out.' he said simply.

'You know what? Fine. I'll come back when your drunken haze passes.'

'You do that!' Charlie said brightly.

* * *

The rest of the group were already gathered around the enormous dining room table when Logan stumbled in, with Charlie behind him. Rory didn't even look up.

Almost everyone was facing the wrath of the beers the night before; even Paris had come down with aspirin in hand. But Rory wasn't sure if her extraordinary headache was entirely down to the alcohol.

Steph, on the other hand, was feeling fine and ready for an attack, even if Rory wasn't.

'I see you are finally joining us. Late night?' she asked pleasantly.

'Urgh' was the only response she got, as Logan plunked himself down in a chair.

'Are you ready to continue our conversation?'

'What conversation?' Paris butted in.

'Oh, nothing important.' she continued. 'Logan was just explaining what the hell he was doing last night.' she said menacingly.

'Steph, what are you talking about?' he sighed.

'You know very well what I am talking about.'

'Can we please discuss this later?' Rory requested quietly.

'I think that's a better idea.' Jake agreed.

'Sure.' Logan said.

The meal continued in silence.

One by one everybody finished their meal and got up to leave, Until it was just Rory, Logan, Charlie, and Paris left at the table. Paris and Rory were making small talk about the weather, as both of them were too tired to really converse, while Charlie whined at Logan to hurry up and finish eating. Rory could tell that Charlie's high-pitched nagging was getting on Paris' nerves, until finally, Paris freaked out causing Charlie to storm off.

'And then there were three.' Rory murmured, causing Logan to smile.

'I've got to go call Doyle.' Paris said abruptly, before leaving the table.

Logan looked over at Rory, before blinking slowly. It was obvious that he was exhausted. God only knows what he was doing last night. She replayed the scene over in her head; she could still feel her face fall when she realised who was in the room they had gone into. The hurt she felt when she realised he wasn't coming after her was still raw. Unbeknownst to her, a tear slid down her cheek.

Logan noticed and without a word, reached across the table to wipe it away. She jerked back from his touch. He sighed.

'I just don't get why you care so much.'

'Uh, Logan, there was another girl in your room.'

And with that, all the thoughts and emotions that had been suppressed throughout breakfast made their way to the surface.

'So? I'm allowed to be with other girls.'

'You don't have to flaunt it!'

'You're the one that suggested that we be in a non-exclusive relationship.'

'It was that or no relationship,' she thought, but then said out loud, 'I'm well aware.'

'Then why are you being so clingy?'

'I am not being clingy! You're just being a jerk.'

'Oh, great insult that. Jerk. What a name.' he mocked.

'I'm going upstairs. Don't follow me.'

Rory gave him her best angry glare before storming out of the room and up the stairs.

* * *

By 1pm, the group were all dressed in ski kit, and were waiting at the bottom of the mountain for the ski instructor. Fortunately, Rory wasn't the only one who needed teaching, since though Finn maintained that he had at one time been a champion skier, he finally admitted that his memory might need jogging. Eventually the rest of the group got bored of waiting, and made their way over to the ski lift.

'I guess it's just you and me, love.' Finn pointed out.

'I'd rather embarrass myself in front of just you.' she replied bitterly.

'You could be quite good, love. You never know.'

'Yeah, right. I'm just going to magically be an amazing skier.'

'You doubt yourself too much.'

'Thanks for the pep talk.'

'It seemed like you might need one.'

Rory knew that he wasn't just talking about her lack of skiing experience, he was referring to her feelings of helplessness in the Logan situation. It surprised her how well he already knew her, and that he actually cared about what she was feeling. She smiled, leant forward and gave him a hug. He wrapped one arm around her back and cradled her neck with the other hand, before leaning forward and placing a little kiss on the top of her head. Then he pushed her shoulders back a little, and holding them, looked straight into her eyes.

'He doesn't deserve you.'

She looked down.

'I know.'

She buried her head in his chest as she felt her eyes watering up. She coughed a small laugh, 'Aren't you supposed to be his best friend?'

'Yes, love, I am.' he said, smiling. 'But I don't deserve you either.'

She closed her eyes as she perched her head on his shoulder.

'Don't? So does that mean you have me?' she tried to joke.

'I think we're good enough friends to count in the 'having' each other scenario, kitten.'

She nodded in response against his shoulder.

'Love, I have the perfect thing to make you feel better.'

'What?' she said, her eyes still closed.

Finn said nothing but instead spun her around. Her eyes fell on a tall, curly-haired guy making his way towards them.

'I'm Chris.' he said in a thick Canadian accent.

'Finn, mate. Finn Morgan.'

'I'm the instructor.' Chris explained, before turning his attention to Rory. It took her a minute to realise that he was expecting her to introduce herself.

'Oh, Rory.' she laughed.

He smiled. 'So, have either of you skied before?'

'Mate, I was a pro back in high school. I just need a little refresher.'

'Right…' Chris said, disbelieving. 'What about you?' he asked Rory.

'Absolutely no experience.'

'Well, I can help you with that.' he said, smirking.

She blushed, and opened her mouth to reply, when Finn cut in, 'Yes, she has lots of balance problems. She'll probably need you to hold her up most of the time.'

'Finn!' she said, laughing and punching him in the arm.

'Just doing you a favor!' he responded.

'It's all right, that's the easiest way to teach the basics anyway.' Chris explained, although he was still smirking.

'Okay,' Rory gingerly replied, still blushing a little.

Chris led her and Finn over to the bottom of the bunny slope, where he sent Finn up on the button lift, and watched as he skied down.

'Okay man, that was pretty good.' he assessed.

'Mate, good? That was much better than good. I think that was pretty damn amazing!'

'You don't need to be over here. Go find an instructor to take you up to a green slope. Try not to snowplough.' Chris said.

'There's nothing wrong with snowplough,' he muttered as he ski stepped away.

Chris turned to Rory and helped her put her skis on, before letting her stand up. Immediately she started sliding forwards.

'Point your toes in, chicken style.'

She followed his instructions and came to a gradual halt. She sighed in relief, before falling forward with a small shriek.

'That was good.' Chris said kindly, offering his hand to help her up.

They practised standing, sliding, snowploughing, and stopping a few more times until Chris decided they could try turning. Slowly, they made their way over to the button lift.

'Walking sure is slow in these.' Rory panted.

'They aren't meant for walking.' came his quick reply.

She reached the lift, grabbed the handle, and let it pull her up. After a few minutes, she let go of the handle and slid out of the lift area.

'You all right?' he enquired.

'Yeah.' she replied, a little breathless.

It wasn't that the slope was steep- after all, it was the bunny slope. It was just long, and she wasn't sure how she would stop once she got momentum.

'So, turning!' he said smiling.

'Turning.' she repeated.

'All you need to do is lean while snowploughing. It'll come naturally though, so don't worry.'

She didn't say anything but let him give her a little push, and slid down the slope. But at the first turn, she realised she couldn't slow down. Instead, she squared her knees and headed straight.

A huge snowdrift was rapidly approaching. Would it cushion her? Before she could decide, she sped straight into it and got a mouthful of snow.

'Next time, try to stop on your own. Snow isn't meant to help you.' Chris said as soon as he had pulled her out. 'Let's stay over here, so I can help you a little more.'

The pair stepped back up the slope a little, where it was less steep.

'Stand still.' he instructed, as he positioned himself directly behind her. Rory felt him put his hands on her waist, applying a little pressure on her hip bones.

'Centre your weight lower.' he commanded, so she pushed down into a small squat. His hands moved to her shoulders, which he pulled up a little so she was standing straight. He slid forward a little, so her butt was against his front, causing her to take a sharp breath in.

'You alright?'

She nodded, amazed at his nonchalance. She felt a hand on the back of her knee, a little tap urging it forward.

'Don't lean back, you'll fall.' he said, his tone a little quieter. In response she looked down, only to have her head brought back up by a hand that reached over her shoulder. He cupped his palm around her chin, and whispered 'Head up. You never know who you might run into.'

He ran his hands along her arms, fixing them into position, but stroking them more than necessary. She stared straight ahead, unsure of what to do. 'This is wrong. So, so wrong,' she thought. 'He's a complete stranger! I'll probably never see him again.' She resolved to try and ignore him as he left a trail of goosebumps on her arms.

But when he moved his hands down her sides and back to her hips, it was too much. Slowly, she turned her head and locked eyes with him. He twisted her around as far as her boots would allow, until her skis turned too and she was facing him. One ski was in-between his, and one of his skis was in-between hers, forcing them so close together that Rory was sure he could hear her heart beating.

'I thought you said turning involved leaning, not twisting.' she murmured.

'But twisting is so much more fun.' he said back, smirking.

Just as she was about to reply, she felt herself begin to slide backwards down the slope. Her eyes widened and she grabbed his arms, pulling him down with her. She felt him square his shoulders, and wondered what he was doing, but before she could come to a conclusion, he moved so he was next to her, before spinning them so she was in front.

'Here. Hold my shoulders, and when I turn, you turn.'

Rory did as she was told and placed her hands on his shoulders. They were firm and strong, and she wasn't sure if she could concentrate on turning with the growing heat inside of her. But sure enough, as he snowploughed into a turn, she leant too. They did a few more turns before Chris decided they'd had enough and began to ski parallel down the slope. Rory tried to copy, and suddenly was moving faster than she ever had before. When they reached the bottom, Chris did a quick parallel turn to stop, causing Rory to swing around him until she fell in front of him, landing on his skis and causing him to fall down on top of her.

He caught himself with his hands so he was crouching over her, holding his head just above hers.

'Next time, warn me before you stop.' she said.

'Uh-uh, that wasn't a stop.'

'What was it then?'

'A turn that caused us to stop, and we were working on turns.'

'I don't appreciate surprise turns.'

'You're in the mountains. You need to be ready for anything.'

They both knew he was referring to something other than skiing.

'Who says I don't know exactly what I'm doing?'

'Oh, I have no doubt about that. The question is, do you know what I'm doing?'

'You're on top of me.' she stated simply.

'And what else am I doing?' he questioned.

'You're eyes are very close to mine.' she whispered flirtatiously.

'I didn't take you for the seductive type.'

'You're the one literally laying on me.'

'We can't have that, can we?' he smirked. Suddenly, he was on his feet. He held out a hand to Rory.

'If you get around all those cones, we can finish.'

'Finish what?'

'What we started.' he grinned, before sliding over to the button lift.

* * *

The rest of the day was spent turning and stopping, and although there was no way she could parallel turn, she could actually ski now. She and Chris were waiting in line for the gondola that would take them up the mountain a little to where they were meeting the others for dinner.

'Come on.' he said, grabbing her skis and putting them in the rack, before climbing into the gondola, with Rory clambering in behind. She sighed, leaning her head against the window. There was an older couple on the other bench, so Chris was sat next to her.

'It's so beautiful.' she said, breathless.

'Look over there.' he replied, pointing out of the window on his side. She leaned across to get a better look, and her eyes fell on a beautiful sculpture made of snow.

'How does it stay up?' she questioned.

'It's got a metal frame inside.'

'Mmmmm.' she sighed, moving back to her place, but Chris caught her with his arm and pulled her head onto his shoulder. The woman across from them smiled, while the man rolled his eyes.

They reached the first station, where the other couple got out, but neither Chris nor Rory moved to sit on the other bench. Instead, Rory closed her eyes until they arrived at the station.

They got out of the gondola and made their way over to the restaurant. After setting their skis on the rack, they walked over to where their group was already gathered around a table on the deck. Just as they sat down, Finn strode over, flanked by a ski instructor who could've been a model.

'Someone had fun.' Jake mocked, looking at Finn.

Finn winked and was about to say something, when Steph interrupted him.

'Rory! Do you love it?' she asked.

'Love what?'

'Skiing.' Paris said, rolling her eyes.

'Well, I can ski…' she replied.

'She's doing well, considering it's her first time.' Chris added.

'Who's this?' Juliet enquired with a seductive grin.

'Better question. Can you teach us too?' Rosemary asked.

'I hate to be the one to say no, but I have my hands full the way it is.' he replied, before grabbing Rory's thigh under the table. Her eyes widened, but other than that she managed to keep her cool.

'I'm sure her balance is questionable.' Charlie laughed.

Rory tensed. What did she know about me? Steph noticed and shot a glare at Logan, causing him to lean over and whisper something in Charlie's ear.

'Sorry.' Charlie said sarcastically.

'Doesn't bother me. In fact, our falls make it all the more interesting.' he smirked, referring to their earlier incident, causing Rory to blush.

Logan noticed, and nodded to Colin, who tried to intervene. 'Falling can be dangerous, not interesting.'

'Not on the bunny slope, mate.' Finn replied. 'Besides, I'm sure Rory didn't mind.' he said, winking at Chris.

'I'll have you all know that I spent far more time on my feet than on the ground.' she said indignantly.

'Love, that's cause you were being held upright.' Finn replied.

'There's nothing wrong with that.' Chris stated, wrapping his arm around Rory and letting his hand wander over her waist.

Logan's face darkened. She loved that she could do that to him, that the tables had turned.

'There are other things far more wrong.' she replied, all the while keeping her eyes on Logan.

'That phrase means nothing.' Paris interjected. 'Seriously Gilmore, what happened to you? Have your language skills disappeared with altitude?'

'No, but her judgement has.' Logan muttered, just loud enough for Jake to hear.

'Chill out, alright. This is no worse than what you've been doing.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' Logan responded, but was cut off by Chris, who was still talking to Rory.

'What's that they say about student-teacher relationships? They're wrong too.' he said.

'Instructor, not teacher.' Rory corrected.

'Your comprehension skills have redeemed you.' Paris said, but Rory wasn't listening.

'Well then, we're in the clear.' he replied.

'Not you.' she grinned, unwrapping herself from his arm, and sitting back on her side of the bench.

'What does she mean?' Steph whispered to Finn.

'I don't know, kitten. I had my hands full of my own instructor.' he said, giving his instructor a once over.

'Jesus, Finn!' she exclaimed, causing the whole table to turn to her.

'What?' Colin asked.

'Nothing, mate.' Then turning to Chris, Finn asked, 'What does she mean?'

'I may have promised a prize if she learned to turn properly.'

'Love, I'm proud of you. Keep going after what you want.' Finn said to Rory, winking.

'Who says I don't already have it?' she replied.

Chris raised an eyebrow and Jake whistled.

'Damn, she's quite the fox.' Colin said.

'You go girl!' Juliet called out.

'I could be withholding information,' Chris countered.

'Something tells me it won't be long before I've seen it all.' Rory replied.

'Keep it pg, there are families here!' Paris commanded.

'Paris, do you _want_ the entertainment to end?' Steph asked, shutting Paris up.

'I'm still winning.' Chris said.

'What kind of comeback is that?' Colin demanded.

'You didn't let me finish. I'm still winning, because I've already felt it all.' he smirked, causing Rory to punch him in the arm.

'This is so unfair! I want an instructor!' Rosemary complained.

'Where is she getting this from?' Steph wondered at Rory's newfound bravery.

'You might be winning the battle,' Rory said, looking at Chris as she moved closer to him, 'But I'm winning the war.' she finished with a glance at Logan.

Facing Chris, she draped her leg over his and sat on his lap.

'It's time to pay up.' she said.

'Alright.' Chris replied, leant forward, and kissed her.

Immediately, she opened her mouth and let him in, all the while running her hands over his back. It felt like she was on fire. She'd thought kissing Finn was intense, but it paled in comparison to this. His hands had made their way under her jacket, and she squirmed as they slipped over her body. She was taken out of her trance by the sound of a whistle and a cheer from her friends, and she felt her cheeks heat up. 'What am I doing? This isn't me.' she thought, and broke away from Chris' mouth.

The second their eyes locked, Rory knew she couldn't resist. As uncomfortable with this side of her as she was, she decided that it wasn't worth denying herself something she wanted so much, and she plunged back into the kiss.

'Once is enough, don't you think?' Logan said bitterly, causing everyone to look at him, including Rory and Chris.

'I don't know, Logan. I've had a few minutes, last night you had 12 hours.' Rory replied.

'But that wasn't in public. You're just embarrassing yourself.' he continued.

'No, you're embarrassing yourself.' Steph cut in. 'You two need to talk. Alone.'

'Fine.' he muttered.

'Come on, let's go over there.' Rory said quietly, untangling herself from Chris, who seemed very confused.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Logan began to shout. 'What are you doing?!'

'I thought it was obvious.' she replied, her tone catching him off guard.

'I don't know what you're thinking, but Rory, don't do this to yourself.'

Suddenly, her mocking tone was gone. 'Don't you dare act like you're trying to help me.'

'What's wrong with you, throwing yourself at him like that? This isn't you!'

'No, you know who it is? You. I'm acting just like you always do.'

'And there's the answer; you're jealous, so you're trying to make me jealous.'

'Did you ever think that maybe I actually like him?'

'Stop lying to yourself.'

'What about you, huh? Are you just trying to make me jealous?'

'What? No, Rory. I didn't even want Charlie to be here, but I like her and I'm not just going to ignore her, especially when you aren't even talking to me.'

'Then what is she doing here?' Rory interrupted.

'I don't know. She got here a few minutes before you did, saying she wanted to surprise me, so when you got here I told her to wait upstairs cause I didn't want to upset you.' he explained. 'Then, I kinda got drunk and forgot.' he finished sheepishly.

'Then why didn't you come to me?' Rory asked in a small voice.

'Because _I_ was drunk, _you_ were pissed and I didn't feel like explaining myself, and _she_ was there and do I like her.'

Rory was about to reply when she remembered what he'd said at breakfast. He'd called her clingy. 'This whole non-exclusive relationship thing applies to me too, you know.'

'I know. It also means you don't have a right to be mad about Charlie.'

'You don't get to be mad about Chris.'

'You actually like him?'

'Yeah, but I like you too.' she said, smiling.

'Come here.' he said, and pulled her into a deep hug.

She sighed happily. Now she could enjoy her week with Logan, and he'd probably cool down with Charlie. Butterflies filled her as soon as she felt his arm around her.

But were butterflies more important than fire?

* * *

'Chairlifts are so fun!' Rory exclaimed, causing Chris to laugh.

They had gone up the mountain earlier that morning, although the group had started late due to the large amount of après ski they had indulged in the night before. Rory hadn't even realised there was après ski outside of Europe. So far, the morning had gone well. They'd skied down a few green runs, only had two falls, and had made out at the end of every run. Now heading over to one of the diners for lunch.

They found everyone else in the diner. Logan and Charlie were sat next to each other, but weren't flirting. She decided it was only fair if she and Chris tried not to as well. They had already ordered their food.

'What do you want?' she asked Chris.

'We all know what I want.' he leered, causing Jake and Finn to burst out laughing. However, the look Logan directed at Rory in response forced them to stifle their laughter, as well as prompting Rory to say something to Chris.

'Look, can we tone it down a little? Logan and I made a little agreement, and I don't really feel like violating that on an empty stomach.' she said in his ear.

'Sure, no problem, I mean we can always continue when we're alone on the slopes.' he said, throwing a smirk at Logan.

'Chris!'

'Love, I think Logan can handle it. You do whatever you want.' Finn advised.

'Okay,' she accepted. Then she got up to follow Chris over to the counter so they could order. They sat down on some of the stools and waited for the waitress to take their order.

A loud laugh cause Rory to turn around and look at their table, where her eyes fell on Logan. Well, Logan and Charlie, as Charlie was draped all across his lap, pretending to be a Southern Belle. Rory wasn't sure how she felt about it. It was funny, but at the same time it cause little pangs of jealousy to course through her body.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Chris leading her back to the table. He'd ordered for both of them.

As requested, Chris stopped making an innuendo every other time he spoke, and most of the lunch passed in a fit of giggles. Rory managed to suppress the urge to hit Charlie every time she flashed her bedroom eyes at Logan.

But the peace could only last for so long. The topic started with Childhood ski trips, then moved to childhood toys. Charlie was compelled to describe in detail a flowery spatula that she used in her toy kitchen when she was little.

'I loved that spatula so much. I still use it sometimes.' she gushed.

'I know somewhere else we could use it.' Logan said, raising and eyebrow.

'Logan! You know very well I meant in my kitchen!' she responded.

'I'm just saying, we already have so much fun, and I need some kind of change from all the seriousness. Why not incorporate other things?'

'Urgh! That is disgusting!' Rosemary exclaimed.

'We _so_ do not want to know!' Juliet added.

Only Steph noticed the look on Rory's face, and it dawned on her that the whole time Logan was making digs at Rory.

'Mate, as interesting as this is, we are trying to eat our ice cream.' Finn said.

Jake burst out laughing. 'Oh, grow up.' Steph scolded.

There was an awkward silence, broken by Colin. 'Ladies, Gentlemen, shall we hit the slopes?'

Everyone agreed and after paying the bill, they left the restaurant. They all headed towards the chair lift, when Rory realised that Chris had gone the other way.

'Chris! Chris! Where are you going?'

'I've got the afternoon off. But don't worry, I'll see you tomorrow.' he called back.

'Oh, okay.' she replied, disappointed.

After lunch, the group split up. Steph and Jake stayed with Rory on the green runs, while the others went higher up the mountain. Steph and Jake helped Rory correct her technique, and she even did a few parallel turns, as well as showing her a path to pick her way down the really steep parts. After all, she wasn't quite ready to bomb her way down the slope just yet.

Now they were on the chairlift, going back up to the beginning of the slope.

'I just don't know what his problem is. I mean, you guys talked and figured things out! It's like now that he's realised you have power in the situation, he's like 'Oh, let me torture her some more.'' Steph ranted.

Rory had been trying to drop the subject all day, but Steph had been very persistent. Most of the time she and Jake ended up having their own conversation while Steph talked to herself.

'Steph! I don't know why he's doing what he's doing, but he's doing it and there's nothing I can do to stop it without being clingy!'

'Except break up with him!'

'No, don't do that.' Jake interjected. 'He really likes you, but Charlie's a fun girl. He doesn't want to give that up.'

'So let's have some fun.' Steph said, with a devilish glint in her eye. 'It'll cheer you up, and bring him down a peg.'

'What are you going to do?' Rory asked.

'Just you wait and see.' she grinned.

* * *

His phone buzzed. The screen read 'Stephanie', so he held it up to his ear.

'Steph, hi. How are you?' he asked.

'Great, great. Are you busy this week?'

'I guess we're getting straight to the point.'

'Lose the sarcasm and answer the question. Are you busy this week?'

'No, why?'

'I'm skiing. Wanna join?'

'Where?'

'Stowe.'

'Vermont?'

'No, the Stowe in Florida. Of course I mean Vermont!'

'Sounds good, but I've gotta ask- why?'

'There'll be girls.'

'Well, duh. When do you go anywhere without your posse?'

'I have plenty of guy friends. Exhibit A: you.'

'Whatever. Why do you want me to come?'

'Remember that girl you kissed at the party?'

'I've been to a lot of parties where I have kissed a lot of girls. You're gonna need to be more specific.'

'That DAR party last week. Spin the bottle.'

'Ah. What about her?'

'She's here, and she needs a distraction.'

'I'll be there.'

'That was a lot easier than I expected. I mean, you hardly know her. She must've been a good kisser to get you to come all the way here.'

'Let's just say she reminds me of somebody I once knew.'

'Ooh, mysterious! Do tell!'

'Nope. I don't want her to know I'm coming.'

'I wasn't gonna tell her anyway.'

'Fine, in that case…' he began before hanging up on her.

A few seconds later he got a text: 'THAT WAS MEAN. Here's the place.' There was an address in the the next message.

'Rory Gilmore, your week just got a whole lot more interesting.' he said to himself.

* * *

The group had decided that instead of eating at one of mountain restaurants or at the chalet, they would head back early and go somewhere nice, so by seven, they were all waiting by the front door.

'Steph! Hurry up!' Colin shouted up the stairs, and finally Steph emerged, a heel in each hand.

The guys were all dressed nice, in black jeans and blazers, while the girls were wearing dresses, although nothing too fancy. Paris was wearing a pantsuit.

They piled into Colin's and Steph's SUVs, and made their way to the hotel where they were eating. As they walked in the door, Rory noticed the five star rating by the entrance.

The room they had walked into was grand, with high ceilings and beautiful art, and Rory couldn't help but wonder how much this meal was going to cost. She wished she hadn't come.

That feeling only increased throughout the evening as she forced herself to not be bothered by Logan and Charlie's constant flirting. Why didn't he flirt with her? They were in a relationship, even if it was open.

As if he read her mind, he looked across the table at her.

'What's up, Ace? Is the mousse okay?'

'It's amazing. No food envy here.'

'What's food envy?' Juliet asked.

Rory tuned out as Rosemary explained it to her, focusing on Paris who was talking animatedly with Jake. Steph was absorbed with Colin, and Logan had once again turned his attention back to Charlie. She could tell they were playing footsie under the table.

Finn was the only other silent one. He hadn't said one word the whole night. Instead, he had just sat back in his chair and sipped quietly on his constant stream of drinks.

She tried to catch his eye, but he was having none of it. He was pissed.

'What's wrong?' she mouthed across the table, and he finally looked at her.

'Logan's a dick.' he mouthed back.

'You're realising this now?'

'Come here, I can't understand you.'

Rory nodded and moved to the empty seat next to Finn.

'I just don't get it, Love. He has you, why would he waste that?' he slurred.

'How many drinks have you had?'

'I dunno love, maybe fifty?'

'You haven't had fifty drinks, Finny. I think you may have to skip the après ski tonight, though.'

'No! I wanna party!' he whined.

She leant over to Steph, who was now on her right. 'I think it might be time to go.'

Steph took one look at Finn before answering 'Yeah. He's about to start his rendition of 'The Passion of Christ'. I can feel it.'

They paid the bill, Logan taking care of Rory's, not Charlie's, to everyone's surprise, and Logan didn't even ride in the same car as Charlie on the way back to the chalet. 'What is he doing now?' Rory wondered. He just went back and forth. One minute he was all about Charlie, and the next he was ignoring her. She couldn't help but feel like he needed to make up his mind.

They walked into the house and Colin turned on the lights, which illuminated Finn's stumbling figure trying to get up the front steps.

'I'm gonna go put him to bed.' Rory said, causing some to raise their eyebrows.

'When did they become friends?' Logan wondered, but didn't voice his opinion.

'Come on, Finny.' she coaxed, grabbing his arm and supporting him as they climbed the stairs.

They made their way to Finn's bedroom, and went inside. Rory was amazed at the mess; they had only been there for two days! She frowned as she tried to locate some pjs, before giving up when she realised it was a lost cause.

Now came the hard part. She didn't want to undress Finn, but he had collapsed on the bed as soon as they'd walked in and she was pretty sure he was asleep. She decided she'd deal with his shirt, and if he woke up he could do the rest.

She leant forward and undid the buttons of his shirt, before pulling it off of him. There was no response.

She stared at his belt for a moment. She wasn't sure what to do. On one hand, sleeping in jeans is the most uncomfortable thing, but on the other hand, she wasn't sure if they were good enough friends to constitute taking off his pants. 'This is Finn.' she reminded herself. 'Finn who has been known to parade around naked. He isn't gonna care if I see him with no pants.'

She fiddled with his belt for a moment, before unzipping his fly and unbuttoning the button. Then in one quick movement, she pulled off the jeans.

'Oy! Who goes there!' Finn asked.

'It's just me.' she replied. 'I was just making sure you went to bed.'

He looked at her for a moment. 'You are too nice.'

She wasn't sure what to say. 'Nobody like to sleep in jeans.'

'Nah, you are just an angel. A real life angel.' he slurred, before pulling her towards him.

'Finn, what are you doing?'

'Nothin'.' he replied, before giving her a sloppy kiss on the forehead. 'Night, Love.'

She smiled. 'Night Finny.' she replied, and left the room.

Softly, she closed the door, and then headed back downstairs. Everybody was gathered in the living room, watching something on tv. She sat down next to Jake.

She shivered, and remembered she'd left a hoodie in the basement. 'I'm going downstairs to get a sweater.' she said, but nobody responded. They were all too immersed in 'The Bachelor'.

Quietly, she made her way down to the basement. It was dark, but there were some noises coming from the couch. Tense, she continued, and quickly flicked on the lights.

Logan and Charlie were illuminated. They were both frozen and shirtless. 'Not again.' she thought, as the reality of the situation hit her. If they were going to have sex, why not do it where there was no way she'd know?

Aside from being upset, Rory was mortified. She went bright red, as did Logan.

'Oh! I'm so sorry. I'm just go upstairs now. Uh, you continue. Or don't since I ruined the mood, but I'm not going to stand in your way. Okay, uh, bye.' she babbled before running back up the stairs.

About half way up, the tears began to fall. Why did she care so much? It's not like she didn't know it was going on! Besides, she and Chris had made out the whole morning, so she hadn't been exactly faithful.

'But you didn't have sex with him.' a voice in the back of her head reminded her.

She reached the top of the stairs, and headed towards a door on the other side of the living room, crossing behind everyone watching tv.

'Hey, where you going?' Steph asked lightly.

'Oh, I just need to be alone.' she choked out, and opened the door before anyone could comment on her obvious tears.

The door lead to a hallway, with a few other doors on either side and a stone archway at the end. She walked down to the end and under the arch.

There was a long pool filling the room she had entered, and the only light came from the pool lights. On either side of the archway there were deckchairs, covered in fur blankets, and behind was an intricately carved wall with water running down it. A bar one end of the room. The other walls were all glass, overlooking the valley below.

It was so quiet, the only sound coming from the waterfall wall by the door. She sighed, and sat down on the edge of the pool, taking off her shoes and letting her feet dangle in the water. She kicked a little, before laying back on the floor.

She wondered why she let him do this to her. She liked him, but not enough to merit the tears that were always caused by him. As she lay there, salt on her lips, she made her decision. She wasn't going to break up with him, but from then on, she would ignore him. And flirt with all of his friends.

Logan Huntzberger would get a taste of his own medicine, even if it killed her.

* * *

He pulled up into the driveway of a huge mansion that sprawled out in front of him. He put his porsche in park, got out, and inspected the damage on his car. He hadn't slipped down the mountain thanks to the salt on the road, but he was pretty sure his sports car wasn't designed for snow. Luckily, there was no damage.

Satisfied, he retrieved his bag from the trunk and climbed the steps to the front door.

'Here goes nothing.' he said to himself, before twisting the knob and letting himself in.

'Hello?' he called.

'Who's there?' a slightly quavering voice called back.

'Relax Colin, I invited him.' he heard Steph reply. 'Come on in.'

After setting his bag down by the door, he made his way into the living room, where the voices were coming from. He wasn't sure what he was going to say to all these people he'd never met.

His eyes fell on six pairs of expectant ones. Just as he was trying to identify some of them, Paris exclaimed, 'What are _you_ doing here?'

'Steph invited me.' he replied matter-of-factly.

'Wait- you know her?' Steph questioned, confused.

'Yeah, we went to Chilton together.' he explained. Then, attention back on Paris, 'What are you doing here?'

'Rory's here.'

'I know. That doesn't answer my question.'

'Paris, Steph, and Rory all came out together.' Jake interjected. 'But we don't care about that. Why did Steph invite you?'

'For Rory. Steph said she needed a distraction' he said, winking to Steph.

'Understatement of the year.' Colin cut in.

'Why? What's going on?'

'She's outside, crying. Logan's being a dick.' Steph told him.

Jake pointed to a door at the other end of the room, so he headed towards it.

'Wait, wait! I have more questions!' Steph called out behind him, but he ignored her and continued down a hallway.

As he approached the archway at the end, he slowed down. He could hear sniffling coming from inside the poolroom. He stopped and leant against the arch.

Rory was sitting with her back to him on the edge of the pool, her bare feet dangling in. Her face was illuminated by the lights under the water, and rippling reflections danced across her skin.

She stood up, still staring out at the water. He walked over to her, assuming that she'd got up to leave, having heard something. He wondered why she didn't say anything, but decided to just go for it.

'Hey.'

She shrieked, tried to turn around, stumbled backwards, lost her balance, and started falling into the pool in a split second. Yet time seemed to slow down as he grabbed her waist and pulled her back up. She clutched at his shirt in an attempt to steady herself, but ended up falling further into his arms.

It was then that she looked up at him, her blue eyes wide and vulnerable, and he stared straight back. He broke into a smirk.

'You should be more careful, I mean, we wouldn't want you getting wet, would we Mary?'

* * *

 _A/N- Are these chapters too long? I prefer to read massive chapters, but I'm not sure what you would rather read. This one is 7,400 words, but I can write them shorter. Let me know in the reviews._


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N- I don't own Gilmore Girls_

 **Chapter 6- Stowe Mt, Part II**

'Tristan?'

'The one and only.' he replied, giving her his trademark wink.

She smiled at his typical response. 'I don't know any other Tristans.'

'I should hope not. Wouldn't want them to have to be compared to me.'

'As cocky as ever.' she muttered, letting her eyes drift away from his face, taking in his changed features. His jaw was more prominent, his shoulders broader than she remembered. There was a new masculinity to him, and although he was fit before (she hated to admit), his boyish qualities had been replaced by something a little more mature.

He noticed her giving him a once over. 'See anything you like?'

She groaned jokingly. 'While I admit you've matured physically, you mind is very much in the same place we left off. The gutter.'

'Ouch! You wound me, Mary!'. And suddenly, she felt herself falling to the ground. He'd dropped her! She inhaled sharply as his strong arms caught her, inches from the stone floor. She hadn't even realised he had been holding her until he let her go.

'One minute and you've already pulled a jerk move.' she said angrily.

'One minute and you've already fallen three times.'

'Uh, name them. I did not fall three times. Twice, maybe, but definitely not three times.'

'The pool, my arms, the floor.'

'Two of those were your fault. First you scared me, and that last one was you dropping me!'

'So? It still counts.'

His arms were still supporting her. For lack of a retort, she simply demanded, 'Get off me.'

In response, he only tightened his grip. 'I don't want you to fall again.' he replied innocently.

'Urgh, Tristan! Let me go!'

He laughed, and while holding her back with one hand, scooped her legs up in his other arm. His laughter was contagious, and Rory found herself giggling as she kicked.

'Tristan, please.' she said, smiling.

'Okay, if you insist.' he smiled back, and threw her up into the air. Not very high, maybe up to his jaw, but enough for her eyes to widen. After he had caught her again, she lightly punched him on the shoulder.

'Don't hit me, I'll throw you again.' he warned.

'Fine, fine.' she conceded. 'Just take me into the living room.'

He nodded, and put her down. 'Get on my back.' he instructed.

'Okay. Back up a little, so I can get a run up.'

He obliged and waited, facing away from her. He heard her footsteps as she ran up behind him, but then felt her whiz past.

'Where you going?' he called after her.

'Follow me and find out!'

He set off after her, only to catch up next to her panting figure a few feet ahead.

'Gilmores don't run.' she explained.

They had almost reached the end of the corridor, and it occurred to her that Tristan must have talked to Steph and the gang already. Why was he even here?

Just as she was about to ask, a figure appeared by the door.

'That took long enough!' Steph exclaimed.

'We had a lot to catch up on.' Tristan replied, winking at Rory, who cringed in response.

'I wanna watch the show.' she said, and pushed past them into the living room.

'Catch up on? What do you mean, catch up on?' Steph whispered.

'I told you. She reminds me of someone I knew.' he replied at a normal volume.

'Shh! You mean you know Rory?'

'Yeah, she went to Chilton with me and Paris.'

'Speaking of, what's the deal with you two? She seemed pissed.'

'I don't know, Steph.' he said, exasperated. 'You need to chill out, stop with the interrogation.'

She completely ignored his request. 'Are you friends, do you keep up?'

'Yeah, I guess you could say that. I mean, we keep in touch.'

'So she told you what's going on? With Rory, I mean?'

'Yeah. Something about a weird relationship.'

'Okay. You're up to date. So you get why I invited you, right?'

'Seriously, stop. I know why I'm here.'

'Fine, fine!' she said with her hands in the air.

Just then, a call came from the living room. 'Hey, what's your name. Troy? Come out, I need some actual male company.' a guy shouted.

'Hey! What's wrong with me?' came another guy's retort.

'We're coming!' Steph shouted back, before grabbing Tristan's arm and leading him into the room.

Somebody turned off the tv so all eyes were on him. It was a little intimidating, but he decided to play it cool and just sit down on the couch.

There was a tiny gap next to Rory, so he squeezed in there, leaving Steph standing.

Paris was sitting on a chair next to the other end of the couch, and he could feel her glaring at him. Meanwhile, on the other side of Rory sat a guy he didn't know, and next to him an unfamiliar blonde. Another girl was on the floor in front of the couch, with another guy.

The first to speak was the blonde girl next to Rory. 'So, who are you?' she asked, with a seductive glint in her eye.

'Tristan.' he replied with a wink. 'And you?'

'I'm Juliet, and this is Rosemary.' she said, gesturing to the girl on the floor.

'Jake.' the guy on the couch said, stretching his arm out for a fist bump. Tristan fist bumped him, before moving to fist bump the other guy. But the other guy went for a handshake. 'Colin.' he said, while firmly shaking his hand.

Paris still hadn't said anything. 'So Paris, I haven't seen you in a while. How are you?'

'We just talked. A week ago.' she replied, still glaring at him.

He sent her a warning look. 'Yeah, but I haven't _seen_ you in a while.'

She rolled her eyes. 'You know what, fine. I haven't seen you in a while.'

Everyone noticed the frosty tension between them, and Rory wondered what had happened. She decided she'd ask Paris about it later.

Steph grabbed the remote and turned the tv back on.

'I hate this show. I'm going to bed.' Paris announced, before marching off and up the stairs.

'What's up with her?' Colin asked.

'Last time we 'talked', we had a little argument. It's nothing though. She'll get over it.'

'Okay, good.' came Steph's perky voice. 'This trip does not need any more drama.' She said, taking Paris' seat.

As the show continued, he found it more and more boring.

'Remind me again why people like this.' he murmured in her ear.

'I like it.' she murmured back, not taking her eyes off the screen.

'Really?' he said. 'Nothing could distract you from it?'

'Nope.' she replied confidently, although inside she was a little wary.

'Not even…this?' he said, attacking her feet. He tickled them manically, causing her to kick out, but not move her eyes away from the screen.

'Okay, not even…this?' he said again, moving his hands to her neck.

This time it took a little more strength for her to resist, but she managed to.

'Fine. One more try. Not even…this?' he said, before grabbing her waist. She shrieked and laughed crazily as he tickled her, until Steph came to her rescue. She climbed on his back and tickled the back of his neck, causing him to laugh harder. Then Colin tried to pull Steph off of Tristan, but only succeeded in making everyone lose their balance and end up on the floor. Rosemary located and grabbed Colin's feet, while Jake and Juliet sat back and watched.

'I surrender! I surrender!' Rory shouted, causing Colin to get off of Steph and kick Rosemary's hands away, and Tristan to stand up, Steph still on his back.

They were all panting, trying to catch their breath, silent for a moment, before they made eye contact with each other and burst into a fit of giggles.

'Well, I'm completely exhausted.' Steph said. 'Time to hit the hay.' Then to Rory, 'You coming?'

She thought for a moment. She was pretty tired, but at the same time she hadn't been this happy in a while. 'No, I'll stay. Go to bed though, I can sneak in later.'

'I'll join you.' Colin said, causing Juliet to make a mocking 'Ooooh!'

'Not in my room, you won't.' Steph teased.

'You know what I meant.' he muttered.

The two headed upstairs, but only got half way up before Colin called back down, 'Tristan, do you want me to show you your room?'

'One minute you want to be in my room, now his. Can't you sleep in you own bed?' Steph teased.

'Just so he doesn't wake us all up trying to find a place to sleep. That's all.' Colin growled.

'Sure, man. Let me just get my suitcase.' Tristan replied, and retrieved his suitcase from the hall.

Steph had already gone to her room, leaving Colin to help lug Tristan's suitcase up the stairs.

'I don't know why we don't just install an elavator.' he said, in-between breaths.

'It would be an investment.' Tristan responded, equally out of breath due to the heavy suitcase.

Finally they reached the landing, which had a hallway coming off it on either side. 'Come on, let's find you a room.' Colin said.

They turned right, and walked down that corridor. 'Charlie's in this one.' he said, referring to the door on his right. Then he peeked in the door on the left, revealing Paris' sleeping figure. 'The rest on this side are taken- Juliet, Rosemary, Steph and Rory, and the last one is my sister's so off limits.' Seeing Tristan's slightly disheartened face, he continued, 'Don't worry, I'm pretty sure there's one in the left wing.'

'Yeah, no problem, I can always sleep on the couch…' Tristan ventured.

Colin gave him a funny look. 'I do know who you are, you know. Tristan DuGrey. Definitely not the couch sleeping type.'

'Well, my last name doesn't decide everything.' he replied, somewhat harshly.

Colin put his hands up. 'I wasn't trying to offend you. It's just I wouldn't want to sleep on a couch either.'

'Sure.' Tristan said, with a nod signalling that all was good.

They headed back down the hallway, towards the stairs they had come up.

'So how do you know Steph? You guys seem pretty close.' Colin commented.

Tristan could tell he was trying to feel out the competition. 'She's all yours. Steph's like my sister.'

'Is it that obvious? You just got here.' Colin said, worried.

'That you like her? Yeah. But Steph likes you too, she just likes to play games more.'

'Great.' he replied sarcastically. They walked past the stairs and continued down the corridor. 'My Dad's room is on the left, off limits, and mine is here on the right.' He stopped. 'Shit, the only other rooms on this end are Finn, Jake, and Logan.'

'I can sleep on the couch.' Tristan said, smirking.

'No, it would have been fine except Charlie showed up.' he said, somewhat bitterly.

'Who's Charlie?'

'One of Logan's girlfriends.'

Tristan nodded. It was typical Logan behaviour.

'Whatever.' Colin continued. 'There's two more rooms upstairs, as long as you don't mind being alone up there. Plus, we've got to get your suitcase up another flight.'

'Hey, it's fine.' Tristan agreed, and the pair went back to the stairs. After another few minutes, they had reached the third floor. There were two doors, one on each side of the landing. Colin opened the one on the left, revealing a huge room with a kingsize bed.

'Towels in the bathroom cabinet, closet over there, remote in the dresser.' Colin explained.

'Good man, good.'

'Oh, and if you want a drink the bar's in the basement. Night.' Colin said, and left the room.

Tristan surveyed the room. There was a glass door to a balcony to the left, and the ceiling was low and wood panelled. It had a homey feel, something he wasn't used to.

That left him with a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach, so he abruptly left the room and headed back downstairs.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he noticed that the group had gotten smaller. Juliet and the other girl (Rose?) had gone off somewhere, leaving Rory and Jake huddled together on the couch. They looked comfortable, Rory nestled into Jake's shoulder.

He realised Rory was asleep. But Jake wasn't so he went over and sat down in the chair.

* * *

As soon as Tristan left, the group settled into silence. A few minutes later, Juliet got up.

'This is boring. I'm going to bed. Rosemary, come on.'

She got up and followed Juliet upstairs, leaving Rory and Jake alone.

They continued watching tv in silence, until Rory shivered. 'Are there any blankets?' she asked.

'Yeah, but there's only one.' he replied, handing it to her.

'No, we can share it.' she said, smiling at him. He rested his arm on the back of the couch, and nodded to it. Rory moved closer to him, and draped the blanket over both of them. At first, she kept a few inches between them, but after a while Jake's shoulder began to look more inviting. She yawned, and nestled into it.

Her eyes fluttered shut. The tv was still on in the background, but the episode was almost over. Rory didn't really care how it ended. She felt Jake's arm move from the back of the couch to resting on her arm, and subconsciously moved closer to him.

She peeked up at him, to see his eyes trained on the tv. Satisfied that she wasn't causing him to be uncomfortable, she yawned, closed her eyes, and dozed off.

She opened her eyes as someone sat down in the chair next to the couch. The first thing she noticed was that Jake's arm had moved to her waist, his hand warming her side. The second thing she noticed was that the tv had been changed to some sports channel. The third thing she noticed was Tristan in the chair. She took a deep breath and sat up, at once missing the warmth of Jake's body next to her.

'Hello, sleepyhead.' he said, smiling. 'Nice nap?'

She nodded. 'What took you so long?' she asked Tristan.

'Some girl- Charlie, I think, took my room.' he joked.

'She was here first.' Jake replied, going along with the joke.

Rory didn't say anything. She wondered if Logan and Charlie were still in the basement. She hadn't thought about him for most of the night.

'I need something to drink.' she said, somewhat suddenly.

'Oh, uh, okay.' Jake replied, somewhat confused. She'd just been asleep next to him. 'I'll go find something for while we watch the game.'

He left the room. 'It's just the highlights!' Tristan called after him.

'Shh!' Rory scolded. 'You'll wake everyone up!'

'Relax, it's only 11.' he looked at his watch. '56.' he added.

She rolled her eyes as Jake came back into the room, handing them each a beer. After taking the lid off, Rory drank a good quarter of hers in one gulp.

Tristan was surprised. 'Never thought I'd see Mary drink.' he commented, before taking a swig from his bottle.

Jake chuckled at the nickname. 'Oh yeah. _Mary_ here can sure hold her own.'

Rory just took another huge sip of her beer, and sat back into the couch. She zoned out, watching the people on the screen running back and forth. She hated sports. She didn't really like beer. 'What am I even doing here?' she murmured.

'What are any of us doing here. What is our purpose on the Earth?' Jake added.

Tristan knew that's not what Rory was talking about, although he wasn't quite sure what she was referring to. 'I don't know, man, does anyone?'

Jake was about to reply when Rory interrupted, 'I don't really feel like getting philosophical at midnight.'

'Hey, you started it!' Jake responded, yawning. 'I think I'm gonna head up.'

'Your beer?' Tristan asked.

'It's coming with me.' he said, in a mock protective tone, before going upstairs, leaving Tristan and Rory alone in the living room.

She sighed, and leant back into the sofa. 'What are _you_ even doing here anyway?'

'Didn't I tell you?' he asked. She shook her head. 'Steph invited me.' he continued.

'You know Steph?'

'Yeah. Childhood friends.'

They fell into a slightly awkward silence, as they kept their eyes on the tv. Both eager to break the tension, they turned to each other and started to speak.

'So' they both said. Rory looked straight at him, feeling his eyes on her, before falling into yet another fit of laughter. As soon as she started, Tristan joined in, and the combination of both their laughing meant neither of them could find a way to stop.

After a few moments, Rory sighed before picking up her beer and taking a sip. She smiled as Tristan did the same.

'I'm serious, Mary. I really never thought I'd see you drinking.'

'You sure definitely tried to get me to though.' she said, lightly teasing.

'Me? When?' he asked in mock hurt.

'I don't know, Maddie's party?'

'Just cause I was drinking doesn't mean you should've felt like you had to. Didn't those lectures they gave us at school teach you anything?'

'I guess not.'

'Admitting something school-related is pointless? Another thing I thought I'd never see.'

'Now you're just being mean.'

'I'm sorry, truly, I just can't believe my eyes.'

She tried to punch him on the arm, but he caught her hand in mid-air.

'Watch it, you know what happened last time.'

'Fine.' She yawned. 'What time is it?'

'12.30. We should go to bed.'

'Alright.' she said, and the two set off around the room, turning off the lights. Then they climbed the stairs until they reached the landing.

'Night.' Rory said.

'I'll walk you to your room.' Tristan replied.

Ordinarily she would have argued with him on the grounds that the whole man walks woman to room is sexist and unnecessary, but she was too tired to fight with him. The turned right and headed to the end of the corridor.

There were soft snoring sounds coming from inside her and Steph's room. 'This is me.' she said.

'Night.' he replied, before turning on his heel and going back towards the stairs.

Slowly, she opened her door, causing Steph to stir. She was spread out on her stomach across the whole bed, and Rory knew that if she tried to move her it would wake her up. She sighed, and left the room, closing the door softly behind her.

'Tristan!' she whispered loudly, even though she couldn't see him.

He appeared next to the stairs. 'What?' he whispered back.

Rory began to walk over to him, but decided it would take too long so ran instead.

'Steph's fast asleep and taking up the whole bed.'

'Oh.' he paused. 'Okay, I'm pretty sure there was another room upstairs. Just sleep there.'

'Thanks.' she smiled, and they climbed the second set of stairs.

The stairs ended with two doors. 'I'm in here.' Tristan said, pointing to the door on the left.

'I'll take this one then.' she replied, and opened the door. 'Night.' she said, before going in.

The room was nothing like the one she and Steph were sharing. It was much bigger, more of a suite, with a balcony at one end. It was in the attic, so the ceiling was low on one side, and slanting upwards, and the walls were painted a light blue color with a white lacy design around the edge. There was a couch, and a bookshelf, and even a tv. From further inspection of the bookshelves, she decided it must've been a young woman's room, maybe one of Colin's sisters'? She wasn't sure.

But the best part of the room was the bed. It was huge, bigger than a king, made of some kind of dark, hard wood. It was covered in a thick, white duvet with a fake fur blanket draped across the end, and a whole bunch of pink, blue, and green pillows taking up most of the room. She lay down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling, and out one of the skylights. Then she cleared the pillows off the bed, leaving the ones for sleeping, and opened the dresser in search of pajamas.

There weren't any, so she checked the ensuite bathroom, although she knew it was probably a long shot. She was right, there was nothing but fluffy white towels. The bathroom itself was beautiful. There was an old fashioned stand-alone bath in the middle, and a huge shower at the far end. The bathtub looked especially inviting, but she didn't want to get in without something to change into afterwards. Besides, it was late.

She left her room and went out onto the landing, and hesitantly knocked on Tristan's door, hoping that it wouldn't be too awkward. He opened up. He was wearing nothing but a pair of grey sweatpants, forcing her try not to stare. He'd already to caught her once, no need to inflate his ego even more.

'You okay?' he asked.

'Do you have anything I can sleep in? All my clothes are downstairs, and I really don't want to bother Steph.'

'Yeah sure, hold on a minute.'

She leant her side against the wall while he found something for her, and after a minute he came back with a grey wifebeater.

'Is this okay?' he asked.

'Yeah, great. Night.'

'That's the third time you've said that.'

'It's the third time I've tried to go to bed.'

'Touché. Sleep well.' he said, and closed his door.

She went back into her room, and changed into his wifebeater. It smelt exactly the same as he always did, back in Chilton. 'He must use the same detergent.' she decided.

Her eye was drawn to the balcony. She grabbed her hoodie from the floor, and after hunting for the key, opened the door. It squeaked, having not been opened in a while. She stepped out onto the cold tile, and leant over the railings, breathing in the cold night air and gazing up at the sky. It was clear, and she could see a million twinkling stars above her in the black sky.

She was brought out of her trance by a voice. 'There's Orion's belt.' Tristan said.

She hadn't realised the balcony was shared. 'Fancy meeting you here.'

'What a coincidence.' he said. 'It's not like our rooms are next door to each other.'

'I haven't got anything to say to that.' she admitted, before leaning over the edge again. She shivered. 'It's gonna snow.'

'How can you tell?'

'I just can. My mom taught me.'

'Lorelai, right?'

'Yeah. She loves snow.'

'You do too.'

She looked at him, a little surprised at his perceptiveness. 'I do. Everything seems so magical in the snow.'

'Personally, I prefer sun.'

She gasped in mock surprise. 'How dare you? I can't speak to someone who prefers sun! Goodnight!' she said, before going back inside and shutting the door.

Tristan waved through the window. She waved back, and watched him walk back over to his side, before closing the curtains. She went into the bathroom, found a toothbrush and brushed her teeth, then jumped onto the bed. The feather duvet was warm and easy to snuggle under, and in no time she was drifting off to sleep.

It had been a weird day. First fun with Chris, then a truce with Logan, then that fancy dinner, and then walking in on Logan and Charlie. She cringed. That was mortifying. And finally, the reappearance of Tristan DuGrey after three years.

She wasn't quite sure how she felt about that last one.

* * *

Rory groaned and rolled over, trying to keep her eyes shut. Light was streaming in from the skylights (she forgot to close their blinds), filling the room and forcing her awake. She tensed and stretched, before relaxing back into the mattress again. Surrounded by a fluffy white duvet with sunlight surrounding her, it occurred to her that this morning was nothing short of perfection.

After laying still for another minute, she got up and skipped over to the balcony. She threw open the curtains and flung open the door, and was greeted with an icy wind, causing her to step back in and slam the door. Then she grabbed her phone and headed downstairs to breakfast.

She meandered down the stairs, smiling, until she reached hallway, where she went to her and Steph's room. Well, Steph's room now since she had decided she was keeping the attic room. Just to make sure Steph was decent, she knocked first, and when there was no answer, she stepped inside. Steph wasn't there; she wondered what time it was. After rummaging around, finding some sweatpants, and putting them on, she left the room and went downstairs for real this time.

There was nobody in the living room so she assumed everyone was either asleep or eating, so she walked through the hall and into the kitchen. All the girls except Charlie were seated around the island.

'Morning!' Rosemary said brightly as Rory walked in.

Paris looked up. 'Do you know what time it is? At this rate we're never getting out on the slopes.'

Rory was about to respond when she noticed Steph and Juliet staring at her oddly.

'What?' she questioned, still smiling.

Juliet smirked. 'Guess we all know what someone did last night.'

Rory looked to Rosemary for some kind of hint at what was going on, but found none.

'What?' she repeated.

'Your shirt.' Steph said simply.

She looked down. There wasn't anything wrong with the shirt, no excessive sideboob or anything else.

'You're gonna need to give her more than that.' Paris interrupted.

'Whose shirt is that?' Juliet asked slowly.

'Uh, Tristan's.'

'Exactly.' Steph said, with a smirk that matched Juliet's.

'Oh my God! Rory slept with Tristan!' Rosemary exclaimed.

'What? No!' Rory yelled.

'Urgh, Rory! He just came back!' Paris shouted.

'Woo! You go girl!' Steph cheered.

Rory was in the middle of trying to get them to stop when Finn walked in.

'Kittens, I have a humongous hangover. I need coffee.'

'Finn! Finn! Rory got some!' Rosemary called out.

Finn turned to Rory, and noticing her wifebeater, held his hand up for a high five. 'Good going, love. At least one of us got lucky.'

'All of you, stop! I did not sleep with Tristan!' Rory shouted, causing them all to be quiet.

'Then what did you do?'

'Why are you wearing his shirt?'

'Steph was asleep and I didn't want to wake her up, you're welcome by the way,' she said, looking at Steph, 'so I slept in the other upstairs room, but I didn't have anything to sleep in so Tristan lent me his shirt.' she explained.

'Thank god.' Paris mumbled.

Jake stumbled in. As soon as he saw Rory, he wolf whistled. 'Who was the lucky guy?'

'There's no lucky guy, mate, but it's Tristan's shirt.' Finn told him.

'You know, I'm not even gonna ask.' he decided.

'Good idea.' Rosemary laughed.

Rory realised she still hadn't got herself any coffee. 'I'm making a pot. Anyone else want some?'

Finn and Jake raised their hands like little boys, and Rory started making the coffee.

Charlie walked in. 'Morning everybody!' she said cheerfully. She was wearing a tiny matching tank top and shorts set, although neither Jake nor Finn commented on it.

'Coffee?' Rory offered. Even if she didn't like the girl, she needed to at least be civil.

'No thanks. Hate the stuff.'

Rory wasn't really sure how to respond, but it turned out she didn't have to, just then Tristan came in.

'Ah, the man of the hour.' Juliet said, smirking.

'As much as I appreciate the attention, may I ask, what for?'

Rory hoped he wouldn't noticed that she was still wearing his shirt. Unfortunately, he did. She could feel him giving her a once over. 'Oh, that. What can I say? Travelling makes me frisky.'

'Urgh, Tristan!' Rory exclaimed.

'I cannot believe you just said 'frisky'.' Colin commented as he walked in.

'Well, spending time with intellectuals expands my vocabulary.' Tristan responded, with a wink in Rory's direction.

She groaned. 'Coffee's ready.' she said, filling Finn and Jake's mugs after she filled her own. She walked past Tristan who had sat himself down on a stool and filled Steph's.

'What about me?'

'Uh-uh. None for you.'

'Why?' he said in mock hurt.

'I think she's aware that coffee makes 'frisky' people 'friskier'.' Steph cut in.

'Oh, savage!' Jake called out.

'All of you, just stop! Rory did not sleep with Tristan, Tristan did not sleep with Rory! Nothing happened, and nothing ever will!' Paris exclaimed suddenly, with a warning look towards Tristan for the last part.

'Fine, fine. We'll stop, kitten.' Finn accepted.

It was silent for a little bit, but gradually the conversation started up again, although Rory remained silent. She didn't have anything to say about the weather, or the slopes, or the kit. And anyway, she didn't really feel like talking.

Charlie squealed. 'Logan!'

Steph rolled her eyes at Rory, causing her to laugh.

'DuGrey, that you?' Logan asked.

'Ayy, Huntz.' Tristan replied, and went over to Logan. They did a handshake-bro hug before going over to the island and sitting down.

'What brings you here?'

'Steph.'

'Ah.'

'Yeah, she thought the three of could do with a reunion.'

'How long's it been?'

'I don't know, maybe that party?'

'Oh, yeah. _That_ party.' Logan replied, smirking.

Both guys looked over at Steph, who put her hands in the air. 'I wasn't that bad, alright!' she sighed.

Logan realised that the rest of the room looked pretty confused. 'Steph, DuGrey and I have been friends since…'

'Two years old.' Steph finished.

'That's where you're wrong. Logan and I go way back.'

'Farther back than two?' Juliet asked.

'Try two months old.' Logan finished.

'So how've you been?' Tristan asked him, as the others began talking again. Someone had gotten out the cereal.

'Good, good. The dark lord's still hassling me. Not sure how you got out of that one.'

'My time in Carolina seems to have escaped you.'

'Oh yeah. I guess anything's better than that.'

'Damn straight. So whose your girl? Colin said her name was Charlotte or something?'

'Charlie. She's the blonde.'

'Three blondes in the room.'

'With the shorts.'

Tristan simply nodded in approval.

'What about you, DuGrey?'

'I just really need to get laid.'

'What, none since you've been back?'

Tristan rolled his eyes. 'Yeah, right. No, I've just gotta make up for lost time.'

'I get it. Lucky for you, there are a lot of hot skier chicks.'

Meanwhile, the others were having their own conversation.

'What are they talking about?' Rosemary asked.

'They're probably just catching up.' Paris replied.

Juliet, who was watching them intently, just shook her head. 'They've got the look.'

'What look?' Charlie said.

' _The_ look.' Steph repeated.

'Kitten, to put it simply, they're talking about sex.'

'They just woke up!' Rory said.

'I swear, all anybody talks about here is sex. I'm so bored of it!' Paris continued for her.

'It's all they think about.' Juliet finished, with her eyes still on the two blonde guys.

'Hey! We think about other things!' Finn said, offended.

'Yeah! Like clothes.' Colin said.

'And how to take them off.' Jake added, causing the rest of the group to cringe, except Charlie, who fell into a fit of giggles.

'What's so funny?' Logan called over, making Charlie laugh harder.

'Nothing.' Paris said loudly. 'Eat your breakfast so we can go.' she demanded.

'Alright, alright.' Logan accepted, and grabbed the cereal.

'I'm gonna go change.' Tristan said, prompting Colin, Juliet and Rosemary to go with him.

Finally, the others finished their food, and after loading the dishes, followed them upstairs to get ready for another day of skiing.

* * *

Rory and Chris were in a gondola, heading up to a part higher part of the mountain. They were still going on a green run, but this one was a little harder, and supposedly more fun.

'Relax, you're gonna love it.' Chris reassured her.

'Harder means scarier and scarier means less fun.' she sulked.

'We'll go slow, I promise.'

'I don't think it's possible to slide down a mountain any slower than I already am.'

'Hey, you're not that bad. Actually, considering you've had like three days experience you're pretty damn good.'

'I guess it wouldn't hurt to move a little more quickly…'

'We already are in other respects.' Chris said, winking.

Rory battled between punching him in the chest and kissing him. She decided to prove his point, and slid closer to him, before pressing her lips against his, hard and passionate.

They were still lip locked when the gondola arrived in the station, causing them to frantically scramble to get out and grab their skis in time.

'Next time, let's get prepared a little earlier.' Chris decided.

'You think there'll be a next time?' Rory said, joking and raising an eyebrow.

'Oh, I know there will be.' Chris smirked.

They lugged their skis out of the station. Rory forgot to pull her goggles down, and was blinded by the bright light.

'Goggles! You don't want to get snow-blind.' Chris reminded her.

She tugged the goggles over the rim of her helmet, blinked a few times, and looked around, but all she could see were other skiers. Realising Chris was already putting his skis on, she tightened her boots and snapped into her own, before following him off towards a green arrow.

After dodging some oncoming skiers as they made their way to the run, they reached the fluorescent orange sign, the first of those that lined the run. Suddenly, she realised there was nothing on the other side of the sign. No powdery snow to ski off-piste on. Nothing. Just a huge long drop, so far down that she couldn't see the bottom. And after that, the valley. It was beautiful, mesmerising. She turned around. The station was behind her, and to her left was the run. It curved around the edge of the mountain, with the drop on the right and the mountain on the left. She traced the run with her eyes, stunned by the curves, and a little relieved since it didn't look too steep.

Her eyes fell on Chris, waving at her to hurry up, so with a push of her poles, she set off. She smiled. It wasn't particularly steep, although she didn't want to ski too close to the edge. She followed Chris' tracks and his blue jacket, but suddenly she noticed she couldn't see his jacket anymore. She was rapidly approaching some kind of steep part, but she had no idea how steep it was. She couldn't see over the edge in front of her. Breathing deeply, she followed his tracks over the top.

It was steeper than anything she'd done before. She was picking up speed, and desperately tried to follow Chris' zigzags across the piste. Thankfully, every turn that she snowploughed slowed her down a little, until she was moving at a snail pace. She could see Chris down at the bottom of the steep bit, off to the side. She cursed him for leaving her to battle the mountain alone. What kind of ski instructor was he?

Finally, she reached him on the side.

'What do you think you're doing? Do you _want_ me to plunge off the side of the mountain?' she demanded.

'I just wanted to see how you are progressing.' he said innocently. 'And you're doing well. You didn't even fall over.'

'Well, yes. I was making an effort not end up in the snow.' she said, somewhat sarcastically.

'I think we can try parallel turning. You probably won't be able to use it, but at least you'll know the technique.'

'I am not doing anything knew when it's that steep.'

'That was the worst of it.'

'Fine.'

'Okay then.' He slid forward and motioned for her to follow.

'When you turn, you point your toes together and bend you inside leg.'

She nodded.

'When you parallel turn, it's like skiing parallel straight down but only closer together.' he explained, lining up his skis right next to each other so they were almost touching. 'It's all about getting the other ski around the inside leg.'

He picked up speed and demonstrated a perfect turn, before stopping in parallel and spraying snow up into the air. 'Your turn.'

She hesitated, before pushing off and heading straight. Then she snowploughed to slow down, brought her right leg around, and lined up her skis. 'I did it!' she exclaimed.

They practised those a few more times before continuing the run.

'By the way, don't try those here just yet. You haven't done this one before so you need to learn it first before attempting parallels. Do them on our next run.' he told her before skiing off ahead.

She tried to parallel turn as she followed, but her skis crossed, causing her to fall on her side.

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

They made their way into the same diner as the day before, and were greeted by the now twelve-strong group seated around one long table. Each person had a steaming hot cocoa in front of them, so as Rory sat down Chris went to the bar to order some for them.

Although Rory was having a great time, the last hour had been tinged with a little bit of sadness, as Chris had decided Rory was good enough to ski with the group, as long as one of them helped her out a little. Even though Rory wanted him to ski with their group, she wasn't going to make Colin's family pay for another 4 hours when it wasn't necessary. She felt bad enough mooching off them as it was.

Rory took a seat next to Jake, leaving the one in-between her and Tristan for Chris. For some reason she thought the two of them would hit it off.

'So, any falls?' Jake asked.

Rory motioned to her side and cringed, causing Jake to smirk. 'Ah, you truly are a beginner.'

Chris came to her defence. 'She's doing good. We were working on parallel turns.'

'How many days have you been skiing?' Tristan asked.

'This is my third day.' she replied modestly, blushing a little.

'That's pretty impressive.' he remarked.

'Well, I had a lot of help. He had to hold me up half the time.' she said, gesturing towards Chris.

'Why would you make her do something she's clearly not ready for? You might be a good skier but I highly doubt any of your past pupils ever trust you with their lives again.' Paris said.

'Doll, I'm sure Chris didn't mind helping.' Finn explained to Paris, smirking a little.

'He probably chose that skill on purpose.' Tristan added, throwing a wink in Rory's direction.

Chris threw his hands in the air. 'Damn, you caught me.'

Rory was embarrassed, but didn't want to show it, so instead she tried to play along. 'Who says I wasn't already aware?'

'Something tells me you would've reacted by now.' came Chris's quick-fire response.

'What if I was waiting?'

'Nobody can wait that long.'

She raised an eyebrow, and without thinking, quickly leant over to him and kissed him hard on the mouth. She could tell he was taken aback; it took him a while to react but once he did it was obvious he had been restraining himself all morning.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Steph's call of 'Get a room!' and Paris' agreement.

Now she was even more embarrassed, What was she thinking? Before she could respond, Chris replied, 'We're done, we're done. I've gotta go anyway.'

'What do you mean, go?' came Juliet's disappointed voice.

'I'm leaving today. Going back to Canada.' he explained.

Rosemary sighed. 'So this is goodbye?'

Chris got up. 'Yeah. You guys are cool, next time your here ask for me and I'll see what I can do. Bye everyone.'

Once the goodbye chorus from the group had subsided, Chris headed towards the door, but motioned for Rory to follow him.

'I, uh, I have his…keys…in my pocket. I'd better go give them to him.' she lied, badly, and followed him out the door.

As soon as they were outside the door, they were on each other, not caring that they were still completely visible through the diner windows. After a few moments, Chris stepped back.

'I've really enjoyed the last few days with you.' he said, blushing.

'Me too.' she admitted. 'I wish you could stay.'

'It's my sister's birthday. I have to go back.'

Even though she knew it wouldn't be the same without him, she suddenly realised she wasn't really sad. Maybe a little regretful, but not upset. Suddenly, she had no idea what to say. It must have showed on her face.

'Hey, this was just casual. I know that. Hell, you even have a boyfriend with you, so don't worry about it. But here's my number if you ever find yourself in Whistler.'

She smiled. 'Thanks.'

'So I guess this is goodbye.'

'I think it requires a goodbye-have-a-nice-life kiss.'

'It couldn't hurt.'

The kiss was sweet, neither of them asking for anything more, just finding something to remember the other by. After a few moments, Chris stepped back. He didn't say anything and neither did she, but Rory gave a small wave and watched as he stepped into his skis and skied away.

'Sorry that took so long.' she said as she sat back down.

'Love, are you alright?' Finn whispered in her ear.

She gave him a sweet smile. 'Yeah, I'm fine…' she trailed off. Logan and Charlie were making out right across from her. Wild and crazy, hands in hair, definitely leading somewhere else kind of making out. It was like as soon as Chris left, her power was gone. She looked back at Finn, her eyes wide and vulnerable.

'I think it might be time to give that up, love.'

'I'm just not going to think about him. I'm here to ski and have fun with my friends.'

'Good attitude.' he replied.

'I don't know what I'd do without you, Finny.' she said, leaning in and giving him a big hug.

It was hard to ignore the look Steph was giving them.

* * *

 _A/N- I intended this fic to be like what would happen on the show, which is why there hasn't been any significant trory action. Also, I wanted to explore different things that could have happened (I'm also a PDLD shipper). Anyway, this is going to be a trory, but it might take a while to get there. That said, I haven't written the next chapters yet so I can still change the plan. Would rather me get to the point more quickly (Tristan and Rory getting together) or continue as I am? Let me know in the reviews._


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N- I just wanted to thank everyone who has reviewed so far, since I've hit 30! Thanks for answering my questions, your advice means a lot since I don't have a beta. I would call out some names, but pretty much everyone who has reviewed has done it a bunch of times and I don't want to miss anyone out. Obviously reviews are what keep us going (you know) so thanks for inspiring me to keep writing._

 _I don't own Gilmore Girls_

 **Chapter 7- Stowe Mt, Part III**

'Are you sure about this?' Rory asked apprehensively, looking out over the steep slope with a raised eyebrow.

The group had decided to go out on a blue run after lunch, as they hadn't all skied together yet. Well, the group minus Rory. She'd protested lightly, but had been reassured by her friends that she would be fine, blues weren't _too_ hard, and they'd be there to help. Not wanting to cause problems, she'd agreed. After all, she could ski.

Now she wasn't so sure. She watched as the experienced skiers paralleled straight down the slope. She couldn't do that, even on a green! She was still zig zagging her way across the piste, slowly but surely. However, that method wasn't going to work on something this steep.

'You'll be fine, love.' Finn replied with a firm nod of his head. 'If I can do it, you can do it.' he continued, before taking a deep breath and heading off. Colin followed, with Juliet and Rosemary trailing behind, causing Steph to sigh and roll her eyes, before pushing herself over the edge too.

Charlie, Logan, Tristan, Jake, and herself were still at the top of the slope. Charlie looked over at Rory. 'How about we race?' she smirked. 'First one to the bottom gets a special treat tonight.' she finished, raising her eyebrow saucily at Logan.

Rory cringed. How could she be that forward? She was about to retort, when Jake jumped in 'If Rory wins, call us all before you give her the prise, won't you?'

'Why, Jake? Why?' she exclaimed.

Charlie put on her fakest smile. 'Don't worry Rory, I'm sure you won't win. Nothing to worry about.' she said condescendingly.

Rory fumed. 'Let's just go.' she muttered.

Why hadn't someone come to her rescue? Logan? Tristan? Even they could see Charlie had some kind of vendetta against her. What was she supposed to say to that anyway? Charlie was right, there was no way she would win.

'On your marks, get set, go!' Charlie called out, and they set off.

First Rory tried to zig zag across the slope, but it was so steep that every time she turned, she picked up so much speed that she almost lost control. She was terrified. She kept taking deep breaths, trying to calm herself down, but to no avail.

She seemed to get into some kind of rhythm, even if it was faster than she liked. She couldn't even turn properly, just lean and hope her skis got around in time. She looked down, and realized she was parallel turning!

Now that she knew she was doing it, she could try and perfect her technique. The next turn was coming up, so she crouched lower and prepped herself for the turn.

And suddenly, she was on the ground. Luckily, neither of her skis had come off, but she was on the ground in the middle of a piste all the same. She tried to get back up, but kept falling back onto her bottom. Her eyes widened. She was sliding down the slope!

Frantically, she tried to roll over but that only made her go faster. Snow was getting up into her jacket and top, but she was too preoccupied with trying to stop moving to care. She was sliding down at an alarming rate. Hopefully her bright jacket meant that nobody would ski into her, but right now that was not her biggest problem.

Her biggest problem was that the slope did not seem to even out anytime soon, so there was no chance of her slowing down. Her heart was beating so fast she thought it might burst out of her chest, the adrenaline pumping around her whole body.

She just didn't know what to do, so she just let herself fall, and hoped that it would end soon. Finally, she noticed her pace slowing, and skidded to a standstill. She let out a huge sigh.

'Are you alright?' someone asked.

She looked up. It was Logan. Logan who hadn't defended her earlier, who had just let Charlie make digs at her, who had broken his word and made out with Charlie right in front of her.

She glared at him. 'I'm fine.' she said, trying to push herself up.

He raised an eyebrow. 'You seem like you need some help.' he added, offering a hand.

'I already told you, I'm fine.' she repeated. She rolled over, trying another method.

'Try laying on your side.' he advised.

'I don't need your help.' she retorted.

He sighed. 'Rory, don't be ridiculous.' He offered his hand again, but when she refused, grabbed her whole arm and pulled her up. She immediately lost he balance and fell into him.

Now she was embarrassed. She mumbled a thank you, and as soon as she'd sorted out her footing, she pushed herself away and brushed the snow off her, but she still felt a huge lump of snow against her back that she couldn't reach. Wiggling helped it fall out a little, but she was sure she looked hilarious. Logan's face confirmed her fear.

'Ha ha, very funny.' she said sarcastically.

He grinned. 'I agree. Incredibly funny.'

Finally the chunk that had been bothering her fell out of the jacket, causing Rory to emit a sigh of relief. Then she looked at Logan's mocking face. 'You're mean.'

'Aw, come on, Ace! You know I didn't mean it.' he replied with a light hearted tone.

She ignored him, and picked up her poles, which had miraculously stayed around her wrists the whole way down. she pushed off, and had just got moving again when Logan darted in front of her. She skied right into him.

'Logan! What the hell…' she broke off as he captured her lips in his own.

She knew he knew she was mad. She knew he knew why, and yet he still thought he could fix everything with one kiss. Did he seriously think that it would erase it all? Like he had some special power to give magical kisses that would make her forget?

As these thoughts were running through her head, the butterflies were running through her stomach, and as much as she wanted to push him away, she couldn't. Instead, she allowed him force her lips apart, encouraged him to battle her tongue, let him win. Logan always went for deep kisses, the ones that left her lips swollen and red.

She wondered what it was really about. How long had it been since he'd kissed her? It felt like forever. She kissed back with what she hoped was equal fervor, trying to pass the butterflies over to him, trying to make him feel the way she did. He pulled back and let his lips rest on hers, holding her up with an arm around her waist. She smiled against his lips. It felt good to be wanted.

* * *

Eventually, they caught up with everyone else, and made their way over to the chairlift. To Rory's dismay, they were going to do the same terrifying run again, but for some reason she couldn't stop smiling long enough to voice her opinion. Logan noticed, and sent her a wink as they got in line.

She got to the gate and turned around to see who she would be riding with, but there was nobody next to her. Just as she was about to head through, having decided to ride alone, she heard a shout, 'Love, love, wait for me!'

She smiled. It was Finn, desperately slipping and sliding everywhere trying to get to the gate. 'Thanks, kitten. Shall we?' he said, gesturing to the incoming bench.

Rory nodded, and the pushed themselves over to where the bench would hit, waited for it to come around, and felt their legs be pushed out from under them. She reached up to pull the bar down, much to Finn's distaste. 'No, no. Don't do that, love. It far more interesting to ride with up.' he explained.

'Yeah, and more dangerous.' she pointed out, before pulling the bar down hard.

'Ow! That was not very nice!'

Rory said nothing but smiled sweetly at him, before leaning forward and taking a deep breath of the mountain air. It was so clean, so fresh, and she could almost feel it pooling her lungs.

Finn leant forward as well, causing the chair to swing a little. 'Somebody's in a good mood.' he remarked.

'Are you insinuating that I'm not always in a good mood?' she teased.

'No, no! Of course not! You just seem happy, love.'

'Well…' she began, blushing. 'That slope was more fun then I thought it would be.'

'Come on. I know you were scared out of your wits at the sight of it.' He puzzled for a minute, and Rory was sure she could see a light bulb turn on above him as his conclusion appeared. 'Something happened!'

Rory only nodded slyly.

'Let me think. Who did you come down with?' His eyes widened. 'You don't mean to tell me, that something happened with Logan?' he exclaimed.

She looked away, but was unable to keep the smile from her face.

'Are you serious?' he asked. His tone wasn't as joking as before, and Rory thought she could detect a hint of something in his voice. She wasn't sure what it was, but it definitely wasn't good.

Turning to face him, 'What?'

'Rory, I think you need to be more careful.'

She froze. Finn never called her Rory. It sounded weird coming from his mouth, foreign, strange. Sometimes he called her Kitten, but usually it was just 'Love'. There was something comforting, familiar about it. But that was feeling was gone, replaced with apprehension. 'What do you mean?' she asked, slowly and quietly.

He looked straight into her eyes. 'You know what he does to you. Look at it! Just a few hours ago he was all over Charlie, and you felt like shit. Utter shit.'

'And? You do the same thing! Lead girls on, millions of one night stands, a few that stick around a while, but it's all the same. You don't have any place to criticise him.' she said defensively.

'But you don't deserve that! You're better than that!' he raised his voice.

Now she was mad. 'And they do? Finn, I'm no different than them!'

He leaned closer. 'Yes you are.' he said quietly.

She raised her hand to her ear, pretending she couldn't hear him. 'What?'

'I said you are! They're used to it, you're not. You aren't made for this!' he shouted.

'What if I want to be?' Her voice matched his in strength.

'Then by all means, Rory, continue playing at the party girl who's fine with all this!' he said, looking around for some means of reinforcement. He put his hand on her arm. 'Love, I'm just looking out for you.' His voice was gentle now. It calmed her.

'It was just one kiss.' she murmured.

He looked at her, obviously pained. 'Just…' he started. 'Just don't get too caught up, okay?'

'I won't.' she said, leaning forward to hug him. He met her halfway, and pulled her into a firm embrace. She let her head lean on his shoulder, and sighed into his arms. Even if he seemed overprotective, she knew he was just trying to keep her from getting hurt. It was nice to know there was someone looking out for her, but at the same time, everyone always acted like she didn't know what she was doing, like she was some child that needs protecting. It drove her insane, yet she couldn't help but admire Finn's loyalty. He cared enough about her to voice his opinion, even though he knew it would cause them to fight. She smiled, brighter than when she had got on the chairlift.

'Thanks Finny.'

* * *

Rory yawned. It was late, and she was exhausted after a long day of skiing, a million falls, and too many kisses to count. She was in a bar, watching Steph try and get some guy's number, with Paris on one side telling her something about how outrageous it was that they could get drinks underage, no ID, no nothing, and Finn on the other, silently listening to Paris' rant alongside Rory.

The rest of the guys, as well as Juliet, Rosemary, and Charlie, were playing pool. Juliet and Rosemary were pretty good at it, but Charlie had already pulled the 'I can't play, teach me please *cue bat of eyelashes* card. Unfortunately for her, it had been Colin that offered to show her instead of Logan.

Finn was unusually quiet next to her. She'd thought they'd resolved their argument, what else was that hug? But Finn didn't seem to be in the mood to talk, instead he ordered drink after drink. Initially Rory had tried to keep track of his units, but gave up about 45 minutes ago. She was sitting on a rum and coke, while Paris made it very clear she was a law-abiding citizen who would be staying sober.

She watched Steph's face fall as the guy explained his excuse. Rory thought she could make out the word 'girlfriend' and on cue, Steph made her way back over to where she was sitting.

'Urgh! I give up!' she exclaimed, completely interrupting Paris, who just raised an eyebrow at her before continuing her speech.

Rory gave her a sympathetic smile. 'Girlfriend?'

'No, gay.' Steph grumbled.

Paris leaned forward. 'Excuse me? I was talking.'

'And?' Steph asked.

Paris crossed her arms. 'You just interrupted me. It's rude.'

'Doll, give it up!' Finn slurred. 'Nobody was listening to you anyway.' he said slowly.

'You know what? I'm going to go find somebody who will actually appreciate what I have to say!' she retorted, before storming over to the other side of the bar.

'What's up with her?' Juliet asked, as she and Rosemary walked over.

Rory shrugged. 'She's mad cause Steph interrupted her.'

'Talked over me is more accurate!' Paris called out across the bar.

'Whatever!' Steph shouted back, sticking out her tongue.

Rory sighed. It was going to be such a long night. As if she had read her mind, Rosemary asked 'You guys wanna head home? This is so boring.'

'Sure.' Rory agreed. 'What happened? It looked like you were having fun.'

'Yeah, well, Jules and I were waiting our turn but somebody didn't want to let us play.'

Juliet coughed with a 'Colin' thrown in-between.

Steph laughed. 'Subtle, very subtle.'

Their attention was drawn to a high pitched whine from the pool table. It was Charlie, of course.

Finn decided to intervene. 'Charlie, kitten, we're going back home. Wanna come?' he asked, still slurring a little.

She looked at Logan for a decision, but he was busy battling with Jake about a point. Finally, she rolled her eyes and agreed. She let them know she was leaving, causing Jake to come too.

Colin, Logan, and Tristan were trying to decide how to play with three people, when out of the corner of his eye, Colin noticed Steph trying to get another guy's number, so excused himself. As soon he was out of earshot, Tristan and Logan looked at each other.

'He's so whipped.' Logan laughed.

Tristan chuckled. 'Does he even know it?'

Logan nodded. 'Oh yeah. Steph knows it too.'

'I'll bet she loves that.'

'Nah, she's just as bad, she just doesn't wanna admit it.' Logan explained.

Tristan agreed. 'Steph's never been one for relationships.'

'She definitely prefers the friends-with-benefits scene.'

'You'd know.' Tristan smirked.

Logan punched him lightly in the arm. 'Yeah, whatever, better than pining away.' he mocked.

Tristan's eyes widened. 'Who says I pined?'

'What was her name? My god, I swear you were in love with for like a year.'

His face fell as he realized who Logan was talking about. He tried to brush it off. 'Whatever you want to believe. It was high school.'

'What was her name?' Logan puzzled. 'Ah, yes. Mary.' he mocked. 'Whatever happened to her?'

'How should I know? I left, remember?'

'Yeah, and you pined the whole time you were there.'

Tristan just glowered.

'It's okay, I won't give you away. You're got a reputation to uphold, I get it. Nobody can know that there was ever somebody the great Tristan Dugrey couldn't have.' Logan teased mercilessly.

Tristan rolled his eyes. 'Fuck off.'

'Alright, alright.' he conceded, putting his hands in the air. 'What do you say we keep both of our reputations up?'

Tristan looked around, confused, until his eyes fell on two girls heading their way. He grinned.

'Thanks, but aren't you gonna have to go home?'

Logan smirked. 'Now why would I do that?'

'Your girlfriend? Charlie?'

'She won't care.' he replied, focussed on the girls coming their way.

Tristan was a little surprised. He'd always known Logan was as bad as him when it came to one night stands, but he'd thought Logan would be a little more…considerate…if he had an actual girlfriend.

The two girls stopped in front of them. 'Hello, ladies.' Logan greeted them. 'I'm Logan, and this is Tristan. He's in need of some, uh, assistance.'

Tristan glared at Logan, before turning to the black-haired girl. He gave her a quick once over, before stepping closer to her. 'Assistance only you can provide.' he smirked.

'Who says I would even want to help you?' she replied.

'My friend here?' he answered.

'Your friend could be mistaken…' she suggested. Tristan turned around to see Logan and the blonde girl already attached at the lip.

'He's usually right about these things.'

She shrugged. 'Well, if you say so.' she flashed him her bedroom eyes, before grabbing his hand and leading him out of the bar. He hoped somebody had paid the bill. 'My hotel's this way.'

'I'm following you.' he said, before heading off into the darkness.

* * *

Rory yawned, and turned over to look at her clock. It read 2.38. She sighed, sinking into her pillow and throwing her head back. She'd been trying desperately to sleep for an hour now, yet something was keeping her from finally drifting off. She wondered if Logan was back yet. Did she really want to know?

After laying motionless for a few more minutes, she suddenly got up out of bed, and went over to the balcony. Throwing open the door, she stepped out and took a deep breath of the icy air. She shivered and crossed her arms over her chest in an attempt to stay a little warmer, before peeking in Tristan's window. All the light were off but the curtains were still open. He must not be home yet. Logan was probably with him, she reassured herself.

With a new resolve, she went back inside and laid back down on her bed, but now she was more awake than ever. If anything, the cold night air had revived her. Reaching for the switch, she turned the lights on, allowing a warm glow to illuminate the room. She wished there was a fire in the hearth. What about some tea? Surely that would bring her towards sleep. Something warm and sweet to send her on her way. Grabbing her sweater, she left the room and headed downstairs. As she approached the landing, her footsteps were reduced to tiptoes. A board squeaked. She cringed, and hoped she hadn't woken anybody up, before continuing down into the darkness. She reached the living room, lit only by the outdoor lights shining through the windows, and headed for the kitchen. Sighing in relief, she fumbled for the switch, before bright lights flooded the room, blinding her. Who knew getting downstairs could be so stressful?

She dug around the kitchen until she found a mug, and turned the kettle on. Then she hopped up and sat on the counter until the water boiled. She wished she'd brought a book down with her. Deciding she needed to do something, she tried to find the teabags. Just as she was rummaging through a cabinet, she heard a noise. She froze. Was someone breaking in? Slowly, she turned around, and crept over to the hall. Someone was forcing a key into the lock. She stayed back. Suddenly, the lock clicked and the door gave way, causing whoever it was to fall inside.

She flicked the hall lights on, revealing a head of messy blonde hair. 'Are you _trying_ to wake everyone up?' she asked sarcastically.

Guilty, he looked up. There were lipstick stains on his cheek, his clothes were rumpled, and he was missing his belt. 'Sorry.'

That surprised her. She'd expected some kind of equally sarcastic response, but instead he was apologising? 'I was kidding.' she explained, relaxing a little.

'Yeah, I got that.'

She peered over his shoulder, looking for Logan, but didn't see him. Relieved, she sighed. He must have come home earlier, otherwise they'd both be here with lipstick stains on her cheeks. 'You want some tea?' she offered.

'Nah, I'm just gonna go to bed.' he replied. 'Night.'

Rory poured her tea as he walked out of the kitchen, then sat down at the table. It was obvious what Tristan had been up to. He probably found some girl that looked satisfactory at the bar, went home with her, then decided he should sneak in, hoping that nobody but Logan would find out about his little escapade. That's why he was so uncomfortable, he didn't want her to tell anybody.

She took a long sip of her tea. It was hot, but not enough to burn, soothing her throat as she swallowed. She decided she wouldn't tell anyone, but a small part of her was disappointed. Not because he'd slept with someone or whatever they did, after all it had nothing to do with her, but because she thought he would've changed, matured a little. And she'd thought he had. Sure, he still made sex references left and right, and hit on anything that breathed, but it'd seemed like he was past his playboy days. Apparently not.

Finishing her tea, she stood up and set the mug down in the sink, before turning off the lights and going upstairs. She didn't care as much about the creaking floorboards, since she'd heard Tristan walking heavily the whole way up. When she reached their landing, she stopped in front of Tristan's door. She was tempted to say goodnight, or something, since he knew she was awake, but at the same time, she didn't really want to make him squirm in front of her, having realised he came in with lipstick all over his face. With one last look at his door, she pushed open her own and went inside. She took off her sweater, and was about to lay down when she noticed she'd left the curtains by the balcony door open. She went over to close them, but was enticed by the night sky, so stepped outside. After staring up at the stars for a while, she was shivering, so decided it was time to sleep. Just as she was going back inside, she looked over at Tristan's window.

The curtains were shut. She took in one last breath of fresh air, before going inside and curling up under the warm duvet. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

* * *

'I can't see anything!' Steph exclaimed.

She and Steph were in the gondola, heading up to the green run where Chris had taught her to parallel turn. Only this time, it was snowing.

Rory peered out the window, but could barely make out the shape of the mountain as they rose up into the snow cloud. It was all white, all around, and she could barely tell the difference between the sky and the ground.

'Are we gonna be able to ski?' Rory asked, a little apprehensively.

Steph smiled reassuringly. 'Oh yeah. We've all got low light goggles. We'll be fine.'

'That's good, I guess. We're just really gonna have to concentrate.' Rory continued. Steph hadn't really calmed her nerves.

'Lucky we got a good night's sleep! Did you see Tristan this morning? He looked like shit.'

'Yeah, that's cause he went to bed at like 3.' she replied, looking at the ground.

Steph perked up. 'How do you know that?' she asked suggestively.

Rory sighed, rolling her eyes. 'Cause I was downstairs making myself some tea when he got in.'

'I am not even gonna ask about the tea. So what did he say?'

'I don't know, not a lot. He was really uncomfortable.'

'Come on, Rory! You've gotta give me more than that! Why was he so uncomfortable?'

Rory remembered the lipstick, and the clothes, and the lack of a belt. 'He'd come back from a hook up.' she explained. As Steph was about to ask for proof, she cut her off, 'There was lipstick all over his face and his belt was missing.'

Steph smirked. 'You noticed the belt?'

Blushing, Rory denied it. 'No, not really!'

'Yeah, you did!' Steph replied in a sing-song voice.

'Fine, whatever. That's not the point. I only saw cause it was obvious.'

Steph shrugged her shoulders. 'Good for him, I mean he was locked up in military school with no girls for, like, ever. Makes sense that he should wanna get laid now that he's back.'

'Yeah, but…' Rory started.

'But what?'

Rory bit her lip. 'It's just, that's exactly what he was like in high school. You know, ultimate playboy extraordinaire. I thought he would've matured by now.'

'Rory, you don't seem to care that Logan's the same way.' Steph pointed out.

'That's different. I already knew he was like that, but Tristan, I thought he'd changed.'

'Why do you care?' Steph asked forwardly.

'I don't! I'm just a little disappointed, that's all. And for the record, Tristan was way worse than Logan.' Steph looked confused, so she continued. 'Yeah, Logan has one night stands, but at least he acts like those girls he hooks up with are people. Tristan, he treats them like objects.'

'Maybe he _has_ matured. Maybe he just likes have one night stands, like Logan. You don't really know how he treats them anymore.' Steph countered.

'Yes I do! He's acting the same as he did in high school! And I, for one, don't want anything to do with it.'

'Fine. Don't get involved. But you don't need to cut him out of your life of whatever it is that you were planning to do. Just keep it light.'

'What?'

'You know, banter. Use him to have fun.' she continued.

'Steph, I'm not gonna sleep with him.'

'I know, I know. I meant flirt or whatever. Like with Chris, but you don't even need to go that far.'

'Okay…'

'I'm just saying, Tristan's someone worth having in your life. Trust me, I know.'

Rory looked down. 'Sorry, I keep forgetting you guys are friends.'

Steph was silent for a moment. 'You know, I called him for you.' she revealed.

Rory's head snapped up. 'What do you mean, for me?'

Steph took a deep breath. 'I just thought you could do with a little fun, since Logan's being, well, Logan.' she said in one breath. 'And there's the added benefit that you could make him a teeny weeny itsy bit…jealous.' she finished, cringing when she saw Rory's face.

'Steph! I'm not gonna sleep with him! Or kiss him! Or do anything that's gonna make Logan jealous! God, are you _trying_ to ruin our relationship?' she ranted, disgusted.

Steph shook her head violently. 'No, of course not! But just because you aren't gonna initiate the second part of my plan, doesn't mean you can't appreciate him being here. He's funny!' She paused, waiting for Rory to say something. When she didn't, Steph continued. 'Please don't be mad, Rory.' she said quietly.

Rory looked at Steph's eyes, which were begging for it to be okay. 'Don't worry about it. I'll even take your advice.' she said, before drawing Steph in for a hug. She noticed Steph's raised eyebrow. 'You know what I mean.' she said, rolling her eyes.

They were jolted out of their embrace as the gondola arrived at the station. Rory hopped out a little frantically, and grabbed her skis out of the rack. She and Steph left the station and found Jake, Rosemary, and Juliet waiting by the big sign directing people to the different slopes. A few minutes later, Charlie and Paris joined them. Paris shot Rory a look of pure contempt before nodding her head in Charlie's direction. Rory mouthed an apology to her, before turning back to Juliet and Jake.

She wondered why Steph felt the need to invite Tristan, when Rory could have easily used Jake for the same purpose. Flirting, banter, fun. She was frowning, puzzled, when Finn, Colin, Logan, and Tristan walked up. She hadn't even noticed them, so Finn crept up behind her.

'Boo!'

She shrieked, causing the rest of the group to fall into fits of laughter. Glaring at him, she elbowed Finn in the stomach, causing him to double over.

'My god, somebody's feeling feisty today!' he exclaimed.

Rory shrugged her shoulders. 'I tend to react when provoked.' she said simply.

'In his defence, he thought you were Rosemary.' Tristan explained, grinning.

'Yes Love! The snow, it messes with my vision.' he added.

At the mention of the snow, Rory remembered her earlier fears. 'How are we even gonna ski in this?'

'Don't worry love, just follow me and you'll be fine.' Finn reassured her.

'Fine, or you'll ski off the edge.' Logan mocked.

'Ohhhh!' Jake called out.

Paris rolled her eyes. 'Shut up.'

Colin raised an eyebrow. 'Who brought her anyway?' he said, joking.

'I did.' Rory reminded him, her tone daring him to continue.

Steph stepped forward, putting a comforting hand on Rory's arm. 'Easy tiger. You'll be fine, I already told you.' She pulled her goggles off the top of her helmet, and zipped her coat up all the way.

The rest of the group imitated Steph until everyone was ready to go. Colin, as usual, took charge. 'Okay everyone. We're gonna ski single file, following me.' he looked around, checking for any objections. 'Oh, and try and mix the abilities a little.'

'We wouldn't want anyone getting left behind.' Juliet joked.

They put their skis on and made their way over to the start of the green. Colin and Logan pushed themselves straight over the edge, followed by Rosemary, Charlie, and Jake. One by one, each person plunged their poles into the snow, pushed hard off them, and began sliding down the mountain until it was just Steph and Tristan left with her.

'Rory, you'll be fine.' Steph said one last time before skiing away down the slope.

Rory opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out. She wasn't really sure what to say. She looked over at Tristan. 'Do you wanna go?'

'Nah, you can go first.' he replied, ever the gentleman.

She took a deep breath, and prepared to go, but chickened out at the last second. 'No, no. I need someone's tracks to follow.'

He smiled. 'Sure, but don't get left behind!' he joked, and in one movement, pushed himself over the edge. Rory's only thought was that she didn't want to lose the group since she was at the back, so without even mapping out her trail, she followed suit.

She could see a single line of fluorescent jackets, but she wasn't sure if that was Colin at the front or if he'd gone over the next hill. They were quite far ahead, and it occurred to her that she and Tristan were pretty far from the rest of the group. Apparently he realised this too, because instead of weaving his way down the first hill, he headed straight down. She frowned. He'd known she wanted to follow his tracks, yet he just bombed it down the slope, which he knew she'd never do. He just didn't care.

Glaring at nothing in particular, she began zigzagging her way down the slope at a snail pace. It was easier than it had been the first time she'd skied this slope, although anything was easier than the blue run they'd skied yesterday. Gradually, her turns became softer and softer until she was almost heading straight, just leaning to turn. She smiled. She was doing it! For once, she didn't even look like a beginner. As she looked down at her skis, it occurred to her that she was almost parallel turning. She decided that since she was still moving pretty slowly, she could try doing it properly. Taking a deep breath, she lined up her skis and twisted. Immediately, she fell to the ground, landing on her side with a thump.

One ski had come off and began to slide down the slope. Frantically, she pushed herself down to where it was and grabbed it before it could go any further. There were chunks of snow in the boot snap mechanism. She tried to smack it with her pole to get them out, but only succeeded in letting her pole slide down the slope. She sighed, defeated, and threw her head back into the snow. How did she go from doing so well do being on the ground, again? After a moment, she stood up and tried to snap her skis back on. She got the front in and the clip closed halfway. Frowning at it, she decided the best thing to do would be to ski down to the bottom of the first hill, where the rest of the group would be, and get one of them to help her.

She knew it was dangerous, she could break her ankle. Since turning with a ski half on was not going to be an option, she unwillingly accepted she would have to bomb the rest of the slope. She slid down to her pole and wrapped it around her wrist, before setting off.

She picked up speed at an alarming rate, speeding down the mountain so fast that she had no choice but to look straight ahead. Thankfully, the bottom of the hill ended with a long flat section, and she hoped it would be long enough for her speed to completely die out. Oh well, at this point there was nothing she could do if it wasn't.

A bright blue jacket towards the edge of the slope caught her eye. Was it someone from her group? She leant a little to the left so that she could get over to them without having to turn. Her momentum ran out just as she reached them.

'Alright Mary?'

It was Tristan. Of course. She still hadn't decided on her plan of action to do with him just yet, so at that moment he was the last person she wanted to see.

Pushing up her goggles, she answered him. 'Yeah, I just had a little fall.' she explained, blushing.

She could see his eyes through his goggles. They softened. 'You hurt?'

Smiling, she assured him she was fine.

'So how'd that happen, Mary?' he asked.

She glared at the use of that nickname. 'I tried to parallel turn, Bible Boy.'

'Touché.'

'So, can you help me with my ski?'

He frowned, confused. 'You're wearing your skis…' he trailed off.

'One came off, and I couldn't get it back on properly. It's only half on right now.' she explained.

His eyes widened. 'What? Are you crazy? You could've killed yourself!'

She was surprised at his anger. 'No, I could've broken something. That is not the same as death, Tristan.'

' _No_ , you could've broken something, been blinded by the snow, and fallen off the side of the mountain, thus killing yourself!' he exclaimed.

'Why are you so upset? This is so not a big deal.' she countered with a raised eyebrow.

'Why am I upset? Why do you think I'm upset?!'

She didn't know what to say. 'I…I don't know.' she said, staring at the ground.

He was still mad. 'Jesus, Rory! You just don't get it! Just imagine plunging off the side of the mountain.' He paused, watching her face. 'Yeah, that would suck. And then nobody would know where you went, except me. And then your friends would've had to see you, dead, just laying there. And it would've been me that should've stayed back with you, should've stopped you. And you're asking why I care?'

A tear made it's way down her cheek. It wasn't that he'd yelled at her, she could care less about that, but that she didn't think. In this snow, she could've easily missed the edge. And not only was that scary to think about, what Tristan said about her, no, _their_ friends cut deep inside her. What would they think? What would they do? Would they blame themselves?

'Rory, don't cry.' he asked quietly. 'Please.'

She sniffed, causing him to sigh.

'Come here.' he said, sliding forward and pulling her into an embrace.

She didn't look up at him, but buried pressed her head against his shoulder. 'I'm sorry.'

'No, no, I shouldn't have yelled.' he protested. 'I really didn't mean to.'

'You were just looking out for me, I know that.'

He didn't reply. Rory made no attempt to move, instead she stayed, leaning against him, letting his arms wrap around her, holding her up. He turned her around, and undid the strap of her helmet, before pulling it off her head. She looked up at him as she felt the sudden cold, but returned her head back to its previous position against his shoulder after a second. Tristan leant his head down so it rested against the back of her neck, warming since she was no longer wearing a helmet. It dangled from his wrist, on the arm that sat protectively over her coat.

It was comforting, having his tall figure support her as she sniffed. It wasn't like with Logan, when the butterflies invaded her stomach, and she couldn't think of anything but what he was doing. It wasn't like with Finn, or Chris, when an uncontrollable heat filled her, and she couldn't think at all. This felt safe, and she allowed herself to just cry and exist, allowed herself to forget everything but the steady feeling of Tristan's arms, strong and sure, letting her be, keeping her safe.

They stayed in their embrace for a few more minutes, before Rory removed her ski and and Tristan used his pole to bang the snow out of her ski and off of her boot. Then she clipped back in, put her helmet back on, and pulled down her goggles. They slid over to the edge of the next hill.

Rory looked over the edge. There was nothing but white, and the fluorescent orange poles that lined the slope. No sign of the rest of the group, and no other skiers were on the run this early and in this weather. This hill was steeper than the first one, curving around the mountain.

'This time, follow me.' Tristan told her.

She raised an eyebrow. 'If you zig zag, sure.' she replied.

'No, in this weather, it's easier just to go straight. There's a lot of powder, and there's nobody else on the slope, so just bomb it and embrace the speed.'

'Excuse me?'

He smiled at the disbelief in her voice. 'I'm serious. Just follow me, and keep a good position. If you go to fast, snowplough to slow down. You won't fall, I promise.'

She stuck a gloved, pointed finger at him. 'I'm trusting you.' she threatened.

Shrugging, he stuck his poles in the ground and set off.

Rory followed. She squared her shoulders and bent her knees, and guided her skis into Tristan's tracks. As she sped up, she took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down. What was his advice? Embrace the speed, he'd said. She could do that. She allowed herself to feel the wind against her jacket, to enjoy it.

Her visibility extended to a few feet in front of her, and she could make out Tristan's bright blue jacket. The rest was white. White everywhere, it surrounded her and covered the mountain. There was no edge of the slope, the only things that guided her were the orange poles that lined both sides, warning skiers of the edge, and over the edge was more white. If she hadn't seen it in the sun she would've thought it was more slope instead of a huge drop. She couldn't make out the contours of the slope, only feel it as she slid over little mounds of snow. For once, it didn't feel like the skis were on her feet, instead it felt like she was connected to them, and the ground.

And it was so quiet, all she could hear was the slight sound of her skis slipping through powder. None of the usual crunching, creaking sound that the skis usually produced, or the sound of scraping on ice. Everything was muffled and muted and calm, covered in a blanket of white. She'd never felt so calm.

She allowed herself to speed straight down the slope, leaning left and right so that she swerved a little. She bent down and dug her poles into the ground, pushing herself to catch up with Tristan. Not only did she catch up, she pulled up next to him before overtaking him altogether at the top of the next hill, sticking her tongue out at him as she sped by.

He smirked. 'You're on.'

'Race you to the group?' she called out.

He didn't reply, but pushed himself over the edge behind her. Quickly, he was on her tail, so she moved a little to the right to let him pass, before turning sharply, cutting him off. Thankfully, she didn't fall although she almost lost her balance. Leaning to the right, she made her way back to the centre of the run.

They got to the top of the next hill, and spotted the group hanging around a huge sign, indicating the different branching slopes. Their eyes locked as they pushed themselves over the edge again, bracing themselves and trying to get as much speed as possible on one hill. Rory was in the lead, and was about to win. The girls were all cheering, having picked up on the fact they were racing, while the boys jeered at Tristan, trying to egg him on. As she neared them, she realised that there was no way she could stop suddenly enough to not crash into them, so began to snowplough to slow herself down. Tristan zipped past her, and she watched as he skied up to the group, parallel turning to stop right in front of them, spraying them all with snow as he did so. Rory skidded to a halt in front of the group a few seconds later.

Tristan stuck his tongue out at Rory, and Rory did the same. 'Fine, you win.' she relented.

He held his gloved hand out for a high five, which Rory accepted, but at the last second he pulled his hand away. 'Urgh!' she cried out, and stooped to the ground. She made a snowball as Jake and Finn congratulated Tristan, and just as he turned back around, threw it at his face. His eyes widened in surprise, before he wiped the snow from his face. Then, as everyone watched, he bent over and made his own snowball. Just as he threw it at Rory, Finn threw one at him, and the fight began.

Though everyone was throwing snowballs, Tristan and Rory focussed on each other particularly, making sure they both ended up with snow all over their helmets, jackets, faces, and necks. And even though Rory was as caught up in the game as everyone else, her eyes still fell on two people sitting off to the side. It was Logan, and Charlie. Charlie was leaning towards him, obviously trying to get his attention, but it wasn't working. His eyes were trained on something else. Rory followed his line of vision, until her eyes landed on a figure in a blue jacket, making a snowball on the ground. Tristan.

Logan and Tristan are friends, she told herself. That's what it was all about. But as she watched him blatantly ignore Charlie, she wondered what was going on. And as uneasiness filled her stomach, as she pushed down the thought of what it was.

* * *

Rory was laying in bed that night, staring at the ceiling. She was happy, and she couldn't sleep. It wasn't that late, only 11.30. She thought over that day, and it brought a smile to her face. After the snowball fight, they had skied down to the chairlift, where the group was going to split up since that run was supposed to be a warm up. Rory was anticipating spending the day with Steph, or Finn and Jake, but instead she ended up going with Tristan. Rosemary, Finn, and Jake wanted to go on another blue run, which she refused to do, so somebody was going to have to stay with her on the greens. Since Logan and Juliet wanted to go on a double black diamond, which Tristan wasn't too excited about, he volunteered, much to Rory's surprise.

They'd had so much fun, just bombing their way down the slopes, until the snow cleared. Then they headed went off piste a little, and did a few very small jumps. They stopped for drinks at one of the bars, and coffee at one of the diners, had a few more snowball fights, and ended staying up on that side of the mountain all day. They didn't even go to the usual diner for lunch. They reminisced about Chilton on the chairlifts, and talked about everything that had happened since then.

Rory had decided to do her own thing when it came to Tristan. They were friends, and that didn't mean it had to be like Chris, and that didn't mean she had to do what Steph said and 'keep it light'. No, she was going to treat him just like she'd treat Paris, or Finn. A friend. Because Tristan actually got her, she'd known that in Chilton. Even though he had been so incredibly annoying, he always knew what would bother her, cause he knew her. In a way like Lane, or Steph, or her own mom. And it made her happy, that she'd found him again.

Dinner had been fun too. She hadn't sat anywhere near Tristan, instead she sat between Rosemary and Logan. She and Rosemary had talked most of the night, which was fun considering they weren't really friends. Then Logan kept trying to get her attention, which was nice, considering the change from ignoring. She'd talked to him too, and the looks he kept giving her brought the butterflies back.

Then the girls went to a bar, and the guys went home, but that was a little boring so after an hour and a half, they went home. When they came in, there was nobody downstairs, although there were lights on in the basement. All six of them went upstairs, although she had a feeling Juliet and Rosemary went to Finn or Jake's room. But she was exhausted, so went straight to bed.

So now she was laying awake, smiling at the ceiling after a great day. She rolled over, ready to sleep, when she heard a knock at her door. Just as she was about to get up to get it, they opened it and came in.

'Hey Ace.' Logan said.

'Hey.' she whispered back, unable to get a sound out of her throat.

It had been awhile, since he'd come to her room late at night. She'd imagined that happening a lot this trip, but Charlie had kind of put a stop to that. She wondered what had changed, what had brought him here. Deep down, she knew, but she pushed the thought away and focussed on the fact that Logan was there, in her room.

'Did you have a good day?' he asked, smirking.

She smiled. 'Yeah, I did.'

As soon as she answered, he stepped forward.

'Really? Cause I didn't.' he said, still smirking.

'And why is that?'

'Cause I couldn't keep my mind off of you.'

'Really?' she said suggestively.

'Oh yeah.'

'Hmm. I'm not sure what to say to that.' she said, grinning up at him.

'You don't have to say anything.' he replied, and kissed her.

Logan ran pushed his tongue between her lips immediately, deepening the kiss as soon as it started. His hands were on her hips, hers on his shoulders, their tongues duelling for dominance. Rory grinned against his lips as he stepped forward, running his hands across her back. She stepped backwards, out of his grip, only allowing their lips to touch, teasing him. In turn, he stepped forwards again. This time she let him come closer, and let him run his hands over her body. He broke his lips away from hers, leaving little kisses along her neck, dainty and gentle. But it soon became too much for him, and with another step, he pushed Rory onto the bed, before joining her, supporting his weight with his arms as he continued kissing her.

Rory smiled. She would sleep well tonight.

* * *

Tristan and Jake were the only ones still downstairs. They were in the basement with the tv blaring, much like the first night Tristan had been there. They were watching basketball, which supposedly Jake had been good at in high school. Tristan didn't believe him.

He liked Jake. He liked all of Logan's friends, but Jake was cool in a way that didn't exude money and overconfidence. He liked that Jake was happy to have a beer with him, even if it was as cheap as it comes since they'd picked it up on the way home, and that he didn't care at all about history and past. He stayed in the present, only caring about what was happening right then in that moment. Tristan was lost in thought as Jake turned to face him.

'Man, you alright?' he asked.

Tristan took a last chug of his beer before replying. 'Yeah, I'm good. I think I'm gonna head up though.'

Jake's eyes were trained on the screen. 'Go for it. I'll be up a while longer.'

'Cool, night.' Tristan said, getting up, leaving his beer on the side table.

He climbed up the stairs, up to the top floor where his and Rory's bedrooms were. Pausing half way up, he considered checking to see if Rory was back yet. Deciding it was worth doing, he climbed up to the landing and walked over to her door.

She was definitely home. As soon as he'd gotten near the door, the sounds of heavy breathing and moans filled his ears. He frowned. She was getting off with some guy from the bar? That seemed pretty unlike her. Rory, his Mary, with someone she'd met only hours before? He knew she'd changed, but he hadn't expected that. He knew it was hypocritical, since he did the same thing all the time. Hell, she'd caught him coming back from a hook up. But it just seemed out of character, nothing like the girl he knew.

He wasn't going to be able to sleep with all that noise, so he headed back downstairs to finish watching the game with Jake. As he reached the other landing, Paris appeared from around a corner, scaring the crap out of him.

'Jesus Paris! You just pop up everywhere, don't you!' he exclaimed, at a whisper.

She rolled her eyes. 'My bedroom is right there, idiot.'

'Sorry, sorry. No need for the names.' he said, wagging a finger at her.

'Fuck off.' she said simply, and headed back to her room.

'Wait, wait.' he called out after her, and watched as she stopped, although she was still facing the other way. 'You know, Rory's upstairs getting off with some guy she just met.'

She spun around. 'What do you care?'

'I don't.' he faltered. 'It just doesn't seem like her, that's all.'

'That's bullshit and you know it. Look, I've already told you. Stay away. She doesn't need another person like you messing with her.'

'Who says I'd mess with her?'

She sighed. 'I know you, Tristan. You mess with any and every girl you meet.'

He didn't feel like arguing about that. 'That's not the point. I don't want to do anything with her, Paris. We're just friends.'

'You've been friends for a day!'

'And as a friend, I'm looking out for her. Why is she hooking up with some guy she doesn't even know?'

'Who says she doesn't know him?' Paris countered, before going into her room and slamming the door.

Tristan was stunned. That had gone from 0-60 in under a minute. Why couldn't Paris get it in her head that he didn't want to sleep with Rory? He didn't want anything with Rory, besides what they already had. He pushed down the rising teenage nostalgia. He wasn't 16 anymore, and besides, he didn't see Rory that way. If only he could convince Paris of that.

* * *

 _A/N- That was the last skiing chapter, sorry they were stuck in Stowe Mt. for so long! It was supposed to be one chapter, but 24,170 words is better in three chapters than one. Also this was kind of a novella, coming in at 9030 words!_


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N- Sorry it's been so long! Finals got in the way, but they're done now so my attention is back here. This chapter is set in Season 5 Episode 17, and a few of the scenes are written in although in some of the characters involved aren't the same._

 _-I don't own Gilmore Girls_

 **Chapter 8- Pulp Friction**

'If I still want that sweater in twenty minutes, I'm coming back to get it.'

'Okay, wait. What is wrong with this picture?'

'Huh?'

'Look at you. An armful of bags and a potential twenty-minute-sweater on the way and look at me, completely bagless.' Lorelai explained.

It was Saturday morning and Rory and Lorelai were shopping. Or, as Lorelai pointed out, she was shopping. Her mother hadn't had as much luck.

'Relax, the day's still young.' Rory consoled as they walked down the street.

'There are no more clothes for me. The Lorelai Look is over. I wish someone had told me.'

'That would've helped.'

Lorelai spotted a girl with a cute sweater walking past them. 'Oh see, that's what I want!' She paused. 'Hey! Come on, let's follow her.'

Rory raised an eyebrow. 'I am _not_ following that girl.'

'But she knows where my stores are, and she looks like my size so if she happens to have an aneurism between now and tomorrow night…'

Somewhere between 'looks' and 'size' Rory had stopped listening. Her eyes were trained on a cafe across the street. Specifically, on a blonde outside the cafe across the street.

'What?' Lorelai asked, following Rory's eyes until she saw what she was looking at. 'Oh my god. Is that Logan?'

Sitting at an outdoor table was Logan, with another girl. Not Charlie, someone else.

'It is Logan.' Lorelai continued. 'I can't believe it. What a jerk.'

Rory sighed. 'Mom, it's okay.' she protested lightly.

In all honesty, it really wasn't okay. She'd thought their date the night before, in which Logan had convinced her to break into the cafeteria for ice cream, had gone well. But this didn't mean it hadn't, but she just didn't understand why he-

'It's not okay!' Lorelai exclaimed, interrupting her train of thought. He's sitting over there with a girl, and…'

They both watched as Logan leaned forward to kiss the girl he was with. 'Oh, no you don't!' Lorelai responded, as if he could hear her. 'Get me a rock!'

'Mom-' Rory pleaded.

'I am beating him with a rock!'

'Mom! Stop! It's fine.'

Lorelai looked confused. 'How is it fine? I'm sorry, aren't you still seeing him?

She looked at her feet. 'Well, yeah.'

'Okay, so if you're still seeing him and he's over there seeing her, how is that okay?'

Rory wondered if she was being purposefully dense.

'Because. We're keeping things casual.'

Lorelai raised an eyebrow. 'Casual?'

'We see each other, we see other people, and that's him over there, seeing other people. So it's fine.' she explained.

'Oh.'

She could tell Lorelai wasn't happy. 'We both agreed.' she said, trying to convince her that it really _was_ fine.

'Okay. You both agreed, then, okay. But, aren't you guys sleeping together?'

'Mom. It's college.'

If she'd thought Lorelai was understanding, she'd been wrong. 'How does that make any difference!' she exploded.

'Mom!'

'You know, you may as well be sleeping with _her_!' she exclaimed.

Rory lunged forward and put a hand over Lorelai's mouth. 'Shut up! He'll hear you!'

'So?!' Lorelai retorted, gesturing wildly.

She took a deep breath to calm herself. ' _So_ I don't want to embarrass myself, okay?'

Lorelai sighed. 'Fine.' she spat out, before grabbing Rory's hand and pulling her around the side of the building next to them. 'In what world would you agree to a casual relationship?! What does that even mean?!'

'I already told you. We aren't exclusive.' she said venomously.

Lorelai sighed, exasperated. 'Rory, that's basically friends with benefits! And _everyone_ knows how that ends. There is nothing worse than this.' she said, widening her eyes to get her point across.

'It's better than no relationship at all.' she murmured, her eyes trained on the ground.

Lorelai tilted her head, giving her a small smile. 'Kid, you deserve better than that. You're fooling yourself, thinking that you're more than just…' she paused, trying to think of how to word it. 'Just a fling.'

'Yeah Mom, I know.'

She was going to say something more, but was enveloped in a hug. 'You're gonna be okay.' Lorelai consoled.

Rory just nodded into her shoulder.

* * *

She stabbed at her food, pushing it around her plate. Usually the cafeteria food was edible, good even, but today she couldn't even tell what meat she was eating. It had taken her a while to figure out what was wrong. She wasn't upset about anything, yet nothing seemed exciting to her. It was like she was waiting, but she didn't know what for. The knife screeched as it slipped across the plate, startling her out of her trance.

She sighed. Of course she knew what was wrong. Logan hadn't checked in since she'd seen him at the cafè, two days ago. If he'd seen her, he would've said something by now, but is he hadn't, then he would've come anyway. Was he avoiding her?

'Hey Rory!' Steph said perkily as she plonked her tray down next to Rory's, followed by Colin and Jake's trays surrounding her on all sides.

'Hi,' she responded, somewhat unenthusiastically. She couldn't help it, there was something about the way they'd come in that made her feel under attack.

Jake raised an eyebrow at Steph as if to say 'Whew, what's up with her?', but Steph didn't respond. Meanwhile Colin fixed her with a scrutinising eye.

'Are you okay?' Steph asked gently.

What was the point in moping? She plastered on a smile and replied 'Oh, yeah. Just a little tired.' She hoped that a conscious decision to be happy might cheer her up.

Jake nodded in agreement. 'Aren't we all.'

'Well you should be tired, knowing what you've been up to.' Colin taunted with a smirk.

'Stop.' Steph commanded. Then, turning to Rory, continued. 'I assume you've heard about Finn's party-'

'Of course she's heard, they're practically dating!' Jake interrupted.

Rory's eyes widened. 'Excuse me?'

'He's kidding.' Colin clarified, as if she didn't know. 'Besides, Finn won't shut up about it. There's no way anyone on campus hasn't heard.'

'So…' Steph's eyes gleamed. 'What are you going as?'

'Oh, I'm not going.' she told her.

'What?!' Steph exclaimed.

Colin sighed. 'Calm down, it's just a party.'

Laughing, Jake responded. 'I never thought I'd hear _you_ say that! If there's a party, you're there. _Always_.'

Steph totally ignored them. 'Rory!' she whined, 'You have to come! It'll be great! There's costumes and everything, Tarentino-style!'

'I really just don't feel like it.' Rory explained.

Steph rolled her eyes. 'Yeah, whatever. What's the real reason you don't wanna come?'

She sighed. 'I just don't want to go.' she said firmly.

There was a pause, nobody really knew what to say. As always, Jake was the one to break the silence. 'Who'd you force to come with you?' he asked Colin.

'Jenny.' Colin said, with a pointed stare at Steph.

'Steph, who are you going with?' Jake continued.

'Michael.' she responded, making sure Colin knew that two could play at that game. Suddenly, she gasped and turned to Rory. 'It's Logan! He hasn't invited you!'

She'd hit the nail on the head, there was no point in denying it. 'How'd you figure it out?'

Steph smiled, proud of herself. 'Well, I was just thinking how Colin and I are bringing different people, and it came to me.'

Jake looked over at Rory, thinking the same thing as she was. 'But you and Colin aren't together, are you?' he pointed out to Steph.

'What? No, of course not.' Steph laughed.

'They're so stupid.' Jake mouthed to her across the table.

Steph frowned. 'I can read lips too, you know.'

* * *

After lunch, Rory had gone to the newsroom to work on her article, something about the various species of birds on campus, but once she was there found herself unable to concentrate. She kept expecting Logan to walk through the door. She'd already planned what she'd do if it happened- keep working, maybe look up to acknowledge him but that was it. She had things to do.

She finished her sentence and looked up to see him in the doorway. Ignore him, act normal, she told herself as he walked over to her. She looked up as he stopped at her desk, but only for a moment before she continued writing, even though she could tell he was reading over her shoulder.

'That's the look of great determination.' he said, after assessing her and her work thoroughly.

'Yes, I'm determined to finish this piece before my caffeine buzz wears off and I have about,' she looked at her watch, '30 seconds left.'

She thought he was gonna say something and leave, but to her surprise he positioned himself so that he was sitting on the edge of the desk. 'So,' he started.

'So?'

He cringed a little. 'Did I see you on State Street with…'

So he was going to talk about it. 'Yeah.' she replied nonchalantly.

'Right,' he paused, 'So you saw me on State Street with…'

This time she looked up at him. 'Yeah.' she said again, still not giving anything away. She continued typing, determined not to make a big deal out of it.

'So…'

'So?' she repeated.

'Are we good?'

She could've told him the truth, that they weren't good, this wasn't working out, she wasn't the kind of girl for a non-exclusive relationship. But as she opened her mouth to say something along those lines, she thought of the party. Maybe that's why he came in, to invite her? Besides, if she told him the truth, it'd just cause more problems.

'Absolutely.' she confirmed, smiling.

He looked at her, surprised. 'Really?'

'Logan, we both agreed. No strings attached. Remember?'

She had it all planned out in her head. She'd wear some costume so sexy he couldn't resist, he'd be so happy he'd brought her. He'd probably totally forget Charlie or that girl from the cafe.

'I remember, I'm just checking to see how well you remember.' he explained.

She smiled again, stopping typing. 'I remember perfectly.'

'Okay, that's good to hear, so…'

'Oh, we're not gonna do the 'so' thing again, are we?' she joked.

'No, I promise no more 'so's', would you take an 'um'?'

This was it. 'Depends where it's leading.' she replied.

'Um, why don't we grab a cup of coffee?'

As much as she loved coffee, that was not where she'd hoped the conversation was going. Even so, she tried not to let her disappointment show. 'What, do you have the master key to a Starbucks or something?'

'Nah, I just thought we'd walk in and pay.' he said, smiling at her comment.

'Oh, old school.' She thought for a moment before replying. 'Sorry, I've got a lot of work to do. Maybe some other time.' she said apologetically.

The party was in two days, there was no way he was going to invite her if he didn't then. All the frustration and anger that had been brewing returned to her head- it wasn't like she wanted to spend any time with someone she was mad at.

'Your choice' he replied, walking away. 'See ya, Ace.'

He was out the door before she could respond.

* * *

'Urgh, Lane, pick up!' Rory shouted into the voicemail.

Sighing, she dialled Lane's number again. There were already three messages in her voicemail, variations of 'I need to talk answer the phone' so she didn't want to leave another, but she desperately needed to talk to someone who wasn't biased towards the situation.

Ordinarily she'd go to Steph, but she wasn't sure how great her advice would be. And Paris was busy wallowing over Doyle, so she wasn't an option. Lorelai had made it very clear that she didn't like Logan, so there was no point in asking her, so that just left Lane, who still wasn't picking up her phone.

One more time, she thought to herself as she dialled the number yet again. It rang a few times, before Lane answered.

'Finally! Do you know how many missed calls you have?' she exclaimed.

'Sorry, left my phone at home. What's up?' Lane replied.

Rory hesitated, unsure if she wanted to explain the whole story. 'Logan.'

'Ah, casual relationship guy.'

'Yeah'

Lane paused. 'What about him?'

'I'm not loving the casual relationship.' Rory explained.

'Ah.'

'But I don't want to not see him at all.'

'Mm.'

'But I'm totally a girlfriend girl.'

Mm.'

'Right?'

'Yes. Definitely.'

'So what do I do?' she asked.

'How should I do? I am the worst person for relationship advice.' Lane reminded her.

'I just don't think it's working out, I mean it's not like I don't like him, I do. I really do. I just don't like the whole 'date other people' part of our agreement. Whenever I, you know, do stuff with other guys, he gets all jealous and punishes me, like does more stuff with other girls. But when I don't, I'm just upset and jealous and-'

'Okay, here's what you need to do.' Lane interrupted. 'You need to tell him everything you just told me, and see what he says. You never know, maybe he'll be exclusive with you.'

'It's not just that though.'

'There's more?'

'Finn's having a party, all our friends are going.'

'What, Steph and the others?'

'Yeah, but Logan hasn't invited me. Or asked me to go with him.'

'Maybe he already thinks your going with the others.' Lane suggested.

Rory shook her head, then remembered Lane couldn't see her. 'No, everyone brings a date, even if you ditch them at the door. He doesn't want me to come.'

'You don't know that.' Lane argued.

Rory ignored her and continued. 'But Steph wants me to.'

'Do you want to?'

'She thought for a minute. 'No, I don't think so. Everyone else has dates, I don't want to just show up solo. It's already embarrassing enough, Logan bringing someone else, I don't want to come stag.'

'There's your answer. Listen, I've gotta go, but make sure you talk to Logan, alright?'

'Fine.' she replied, and listened to the tone as Lane hung up.

There was no way she wanted to go to the party. It wasn't like she even cared. Not a little bit.

* * *

Steph was outside Rory's door, about to knock when she heard voices from inside. It took her a little while to figure out that Rory was on the phone, but once she had she pressed her ear against the door to hear. It was nosy, yes, an invasion of privacy, but something had caught her attention. 'I'm not loving the casual relationship.' Rory had said, and who else could she be talking about but Logan?

She wondered who Rory was talking to as she listened to the conversation, which included everything everyone had been telling her for weeks. 'At least she's finally listening to us.' she thought to herself, and turned to leave. She'd come back later when Rory was off the phone.

'Finn's having a party, all our friends are going.' she heard Rory say, and turned back so she was against the door again. 'Yeah, but Logan hasn't invited me.' she continued.

This was ridiculous. Of course he knew Rory would be there, so why would he invite someone else? She could just make out the voice on the other end of the line, asking if she wanted to go. 'No, I don't think so.' came Rory's reply, and something about not wanting to come alone.

So that was it, all she needed to do was get Rory a date. Then Rory would come to the party, and Logan could get a taste of his own medicine. The question was who to ask. She headed back towards her dorm, thinking through all of the options. It had to be someone Rory knew, otherwise she wouldn't say yes, and someone that Logan was friends with for optimum jealousy. She could ask Jake, but he already had a date. There was always Seth and Robert, but she wasn't sure if they were even going. Colin had a date, it was Finn's party, and she couldn't even ask Logan's roommate since he'd just tell Logan. Besides, he didn't have a chance with Rory so Logan wouldn't even care.

Then it hit her. She'd ask the guy who Logan was most threatened by, the one with history that Rory would definitely say yes to. The guy who'd been happy to come last time, who fit in with their friends.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and flipped it open, before dialling in the number. It rang a few times before he picked up.

'Hey Tristan, can you do me a favor?' she began.

* * *

Tristan pulled up into the lot near the Yale dorms, and quickly stopped in one of the many spaces. After yanking the keys out of the ignition, he pushed them into his pocket, but didn't get out just then. Instead he leant back, letting his head fall against the headrest, and took a deep breath. This was not a big deal, just a favor for a friend. Well, two friends, since Rory was the one he was helping.

In all honesty, he wasn't entirely happy about it. It wasn't that he didn't want to ask Rory, if anything he was excited to go with her. No, he wasn't excited, he couldn't be. He didn't mind, that was all. It was just the reasoning that bugged him. Steph had said that Rory's boyfriend would be there, with another girl, and Rory was upset about that.

He couldn't help but wonder why Rory didn't just break up with this guy, the 'boyfriend' that tried to make her jealous and wouldn't commit. He'd been in that situation, and from what it sounded like, Rory had agreed to it, so if she had a problem, she needed to tell her boyfriend, not just act like it was okay when it wasn't.

Whatever, it wasn't anything to do with him. He was just asking her to come, as a friend, even if he wasn't entirely sure why Steph asked _him_ , not somebody else.

He slammed the door of his porsche and headed to Steph and Rory's building. He got a few weird looks from students that didn't recognize him as he went inside, but other than that nothing happened. He knocked on the door. Steph answered.

'Hey, that was quick! Thanks.' she said, smiling.

He shrugged. 'No problem. Where's Rory?'

'Cafeteria, probably reading since she left about an hour ago.' she replied.

He began to leave, but was interrupted. 'Thanks for doing this.' she said again.

'I don't mind, anything for a friend.' he said as he turned and walked out of the building.

He was lead by the cooking smells to the cafeteria, a short walk from the dorms. The student at the door asked for his card, but he just waved to explain that he wasn't eating. He'd already spotted Rory on the couch at the end of the hall.

Sure enough, she was reading. He smiled at her concentration, it had always fascinated him. Someone behind her laughed loudly at one of the tables, but she didn't even blink. He smirked. Of course. She was totally oblivious when she was reading.

He sauntered up to her. 'Business or pleasure?' he asked, referring to the book.

She looked up, her blue eyes meeting his, and sparkling when she saw him. In response, she just held up the book.

He leaned a little closer and read the title. 'Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy, Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World.' He thought for a moment. 'Oh, pleasure.' he joked.

'Have you read it?' she asked.

'I'm waiting for the film to come out.' he replied, sitting next to her.

'You know, I heard Renée Zellweger is gaining a ton of weight to play the peasant.' she played along.'

'Really?' he pondered, still going with it.

'Oh yeah, and she's already in the genre. She was the lead in 'Facism vs Communism; a narrative'.'

'Only you would've read them both, Mary.' he said, smirking.

She rolled her eyes. 'Only you wouldn't have picked up on the fact that I just made that book up.' she paused. 'Besides, it's for class.'

'I'm well aware. Nobody in their right mind would read _that_ for fun.' he said, with a pointed glare at the book in her hands.

She turned to face him a little more. 'So what brings you here, to our humble cafeteria?'

He debated giving a little introduction, but decided against it and jumped straight in. 'Wanna come to Finn's party?'

'What, with you?'

'Yeah,' he said, but stuttered a little when he saw her expectant eyes. 'I mean as friends though, obviously.'

Why did he say that? Of course they were going as friends. He cursed himself for making it so awkward.

She didn't say anything. That was never a good sign. He watched as she looked to the side, then up to the ceiling, before resting her eyes back on his. She smiled. 'Sure, it'll be fun.'

'Good, I'll come to your room around 9, sound good?'

'Yeah.' she answered, still smiling.

'Okay.' he said, waving, and headed back to his car.

Once outside the cafeteria, he let out the breath he'd been holding. That didn't go so bad, in fact, now he was going to a party with Rory Gilmore.

Why couldn't she have said yes in high school?

* * *

Rory watched as Tristan made his way out of the cafeteria, noticing how people moved to let him through without him saying anything. She supposed it had always been like that; he had probably been born with the regal sense of entitlement since he was born. He matched Paris in that way, same as they matched with their blond hair.

From the back, Tristan could've passed for Logan, only he was a little taller. He too acted like a prince, but in an almost selfish, spoiled way. Sure, she still thought Tristan was too used to getting what he wanted, but there was something about the way he carried himself that allowed him to fit the role. Girls' eyes lingered on him a little longer, and almost every guy immediately nodded in greeting. She watched as a pretty blonde gestured to her friends, explaining where she was heading before following him out of the cafeteria. Something about her action propelled Rory forwards, off of the couch, and after him.

'Tristan,' she panted, breathless from her speed walking as she caught up to him. He the door to his porsche open and he'd been about to get in it. He looked her up and down, obviously wondering why she'd run after him. 'Do you wanna get coffee or something? You know how much I love it…' she said in a sing-song voice, hoping to cover up the effort she'd made to come after him.

He smiled, appreciative of the effort she'd made. 'Sure, maybe you can tell me more about the _Social Origins of Dictatorship_ on the way.' When Rory made no move to get in the car, his smile turned to a smirk. 'Well? What are you waiting for? Hop in.'

She started. 'Oh, thanks,' she replied, smiling. Ungracefully, she climbed in his side and clambered across the car to her seat, made a little easier by the convertible top being down, although nothing could entirely disguise her actions.

Tristan laughed. 'Alright there?' Rory nodded. 'You know, you could've just gone around to the other door.' he said, raising an eyebrow.

'Hey, don't diss the climbing. It's a good skill to have.' she responded.

'Whatever you say.' he said sarcastically as he got into the car and shoved the key in the ignition. The car started with a rumble of the motor, and she could feel its power beneath her feet. There was something about the way he reversed out of the spot so quickly that caused her to grab the handle on the door.

'Don't trust my driving?' he joked.

'Not in a million years.' she replied, turning up the radio. It was some classic rock station, something Lane would love. She recognised the song, but couldn't remember the name. But that didn't stop her from singing along as they sped down the highway.

Tristan joined in on the chorus. 'Ramble on, and now's the time- '

'The time is now!' Rory interjected.

The next line was sung together 'Sing my song, going round the world, gotta find my girl- ' until Tristan shouted 'On my way!'

She looked over at him and continued the line 'Been this way 10 years to the day,'

He joined in again 'I've gotta ramble on, gotta find the queen of all my dreams!'

The song faded out, and she leant forward, closer to the speaker, straining to hear what song it was. 'That was Ramble On, Led Zeppelin. What a classic.' the DJ said, although Tristan turned it down just after.

'I never took you for a Led Zepp kind of girl.' he remarked.

She smiled. 'That's Lane's influence.' she explained. She watched as he squinted a little, trying to remember who Lane was.

'Lane from Stars Hollow, right?'

He remembered- that was a surprise. She hadn't thought he'd still know things like that. It wasn't like they were ever even that close. 'Yeah, how'd you know?'

'Just remembered, I guess.' He kept his eyes on the road. 'Hey, there's a coffee house over here, you wanna try it?'

She was skeptical. 'How do you know it'll be any good? I'm very picky about my coffee.'

'It's the best roadside coffee around.' he reassured.

'Key word; _roadside_.'

He stopped the car anyway. 'Come on, you've gotta at least taste it.' he said, before dragging her out of the car and inside.

They sat down at a small table by the window, each with a mug in their hands. Tristan was right, the coffee was good. She took another sip, intrigued by his stories of military school. The endless drills, the few vacations. In return, she told him about her mom, her town, her friends.

'So then, she looks around and sees everyone having more fun than us.' Rory said, continuing her anecdote about Paris on Spring Break last year. 'So all of the sudden, she grabs me and kissed me on the lips. Hard.'

'No…' Tristan said, smiling. He thought she was kidding.

'She did!' she exclaimed indignantly. 'And it hurt too!' At his slightly confused expression, she elaborated. 'She kind of knocked our heads together.'

He leant back in his chair. 'I just can't imagine _Paris_!'

Rory just smiled, shrugged, and took another sip of her coffee as Tristan began one of his own stories.

It felt good to talk to Tristan again, as friends. Sure, they'd spoken, but that was always in a group. This was about their own friendship. She'd always liked Tristan; he was witty and funny, even if it was always tinged with a little flirtation.

She voiced her thoughts. 'You know, I'm happy we're _friends_ now.'

'What?' he said, stopping mid sentence.

She'd completely interrupted him, and hadn't exactly realised what she was saying. In fact, she hadn't meant to say anything at all, but figured that now she'd started, she had to just go with it. 'Yeah, I mean at Chilton,' she continued, 'we kind of missed out on it, even when you got me so well, and so it's good that we have another chance.' she explained.

He didn't reply immediately. Even though they'd left on okay terms when he went to North Carolina, they hadn't yet addressed how he had asked her out, and how she'd turned him down, and how he'd infuriated Dean, and everything else. She sighed a little. God, she hoped she hadn't hurt him too much back then.

In reality, his silence had been him formulating his reply. 'I was only kidding around then, it was high school.' he said, laughing it off.

She went along with it, laughing with him, letting him change the subject even though she was doubtful of his reply. They talked for a little longer, catching up on all the events since Chilton in both of their lives.

'But seriously,' he said as they got up to leave, 'going back to what we were talking about, it's good that we're friends now, especially since that teenage heat has passed.'

She burst out laughing. There was something so absurd about his analogy that made her unable to control herself. 'The _teenage heat?'_ she got out, before laughing hysterically again. He only smiled, and got in the car.

As soon as her door had shut, he turned up the radio, and they rode the way back to Yale in silence. But it wasn't awkward, instead it was just both of them just appreciating the music, and feeling each other's company. There was something familiar about it, that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Carefree and happy, nothing but the music and Tristan and the road.

Two friends, nothing more, nothing less.

* * *

Rory dug around her closet, hunting for her old Chilton skirt. She was going to Finn's party as Gogo, since she had no other ideas. Lorelai had called her, keeping her updated on her date with Luke, but now she was getting ready alone. She wasn't sure where Paris was, but it felt a little weird to be prepping on her own, even if Paris usually just criticised her for going out. She squeezed into her old skirt, so tight it barely fit, before pulling on the white blouse and tying a red tie around her collar. Finally, she put on the old blazer. She already had the wig on, all that was left was her makeup.

She walked over to the mirror, curious to know if she could pull it off, but couldn't believe what she saw. The skirt was so short that she was sure her underwear would be on display if she bent over, and even her blazer was so tight she thought the button might pop off. 'I bet Lorelai would be proud.' she muttered, assessing her costume.

She did her makeup, and found some white knee socks that she pulled up. She was just tying her shoes when there was a knock at the door. 'Coming!' she called, and made her way over to the door with one shoe on and one shoe off.

'Hey,' Tristan said as she opened the door to reveal him.

He was wearing a dirty white T-shirt and his army pants, covered in dust. He had a blond wig that came down to his shoulders, but he'd obviously put glue or something in it to make the hair look dirty. He had a pair of old sneakers on, but that was his whole costume.

She looked him up and down, trying to figure out who he was, while giving him a quick once over at the same time. It didn't help that his T-shirt outlined his abs perfectly, and there was something about army pants that made the whole outfit a little sexier. Her eyes came back up to meet his, and as she noticed his smirk she knew he'd seen her checking him out. She tried to play it off.

'And who exactly are you supposed to be?' she asked.

He raised his eyebrows, amused at the tone of her voice. 'Floyd.' he answered, still smirking.

Brad Pitt in True Romance? He had to be kidding. 'You better not be stoned.'

'Well, that is my character. And I'm always up for some method acting.'

She sighed, faking exasperation. 'This is a costume party not a movie set, didn't you read the invite?'

'First of all, I invited you. You never laid eyes on an invite. For all you know, maybe it isn't a costume party. And second of all, I was just trying to make the party more… exciting, you know, for the ladies.' he said with a wink.

'And you couldn't do that on your own, you had to pretend to be Brad Pitt?' came Rory's quick fire reply.

He ignored her. 'Gogo, what do you say we go-go?' he joked.

She leant back inside and grabbed her ball and chain. 'That was terrible.' she replied, but allowed Tristan to put his hand on the small of her back and lead her to his car.

The place Finn had rented was only a few minutes away, just enough time for them to discuss what they'd gotten him. They could hear the party from all the way down the street.

They got out just in front and Tristan tossed the keys to the driver. Typical Finn to make sure the venue had valet.

They stepped through the open door and were immediately bombarded by the birthday boy. 'Love, you look ravishing!' Finn exclaimed, looking Rory up and down.

'You're not so bad yourself.' she returned. Finn was dressed as Vincent from Pulp Friction.

Finn turned to Tristan. 'Nice to see you again, mate.'

'Happy Birthday!' Rory interrupted.

'It is quite a happy day I'll admit, but right now children, drink and be merry for tomorrow we will all be in a great deal of pain.' he said, before grabbing a drink and following the waitress, not without throwing a little wink in Rory's direction.

'He's quite a character.' Tristan remarked.

'Don't I know it.' she replied.

There was a silence as they both assessed the room, before she turned back to face him. 'It's hot in here, I'm gonna go get some water. Want anything?'

'A coke if they have it.' he responded. At her raised eyebrow, he continued. 'My dad's taking me to some business thing tomorrow.'

Rory just shrugged in response. 'Just doesn't seem like you, that's all.' she said, with a subtle smirk hidden under the sweet words.

She headed over to the bar, and waited while the bartender found two bottles of water. Tristan was talking to some guy she'd didn't recognise, and she spotted Steph and Rosemary attempting to seduce some other guy. Oh wait, that was Jake. Thanking the bartender, she walked back across to wear Tristan was, only to see Colin.

'Where's you date?' she asked jokily. 'Jenny?'

He sighed. 'I went to pick her up, the door opens, and she's dressed like Mira Sorvino.' he explained.

A voice came from behind Rory. 'How do you dress like Mira Sorvino?' he asked. It was Tristan.

'You have blonde hair and a nametag that says Mira Sorvino. I just turned around and left.'

She looked over at Tristan and noticed that she wasn't the only one holding back giggles at Colin's situation. Tristan was obviously finding it just as funny as she was.

'Well, well, the gang's all here.' Logan said as he walked up, a slightly passive aggressive tone to his voice. 'Tristan, good to see you.' he said, fist bumping Colin. 'Rory, I like your costume.'

She felt Tristan's hand move to her back. 'I like yours too.' she responded politely, ignoring Tristan completely.

Logan continued as if she hadn't spoken. 'This is Whitney.' he said, gesturing to his date. 'Whiney, Tristan. You know Colin.' he said, introducing her to the group.

A look of excitement crossed Colin's face. 'Whitney, is your friend Josie here?'

'Yeah, she's over there with the guy dressed like Harvey Weinstein.' she responded, smiling.

'I'll see you later.' he said walking off.

'Leave her alone, Colin.' Whitney scolded lightly.

Colin did his best to look serious. 'Yes, yes of course.' he replied, leaving the group.

With Colin gone, Logan turned to her and Tristan. 'So, good party, huh?' he said. Rory thought it sounded a little taunting.

She was right. In response, Tristan stepped a little closer to her, his hand moving to her waist and holding her tight. She could feel the heat from it through her skirt.

'The music's cool.' she replied, trying to reassure Tristan that all was well. In all honesty, she wasn't entirely sure what was going on anyway. He was acting a little overprotective.

Logan nodded. 'Cool.' he paused, searching for something to say. 'Well, we're just heading over to the bar. Can I get you anything?'

Tristan held up his water in response, leaving Logan to nod his head goodbye and lead Whitney over to the bar without them.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Rory turned to Tristan and stepped out of his grip. 'That was weird, right?' she confirmed.

He laughed. 'Oh yeah.' The song changed to something a little easier to dance to. 'Wanna dance?' he asked.

It was her turn to laugh. 'Come on, you know how uncoordinated I am!'

'All the more reason to practise!' he replied, pulling her over to where other people were already dancing.

It seemed like nobody there was going for the conventional approach to dancing, instead the dance floor was filled with crazy moves that Rory was sure she could never replicate. She swayed a little, self conscious from being in the centre of the room.

Tristan rolled his eyes and started whirling around, dragging her with him. 'Tristan!' she exclaimed as he twirled her so fast that she almost lost her balance.

'Let go!' he responded.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before following his lead. She was pretty sure she'd seen moves like this in some 20's movie, but she had no idea what she was doing. Instead she just let Tristan do all the work and followed his lead. Pretty soon a little crowd had gathered around them and a few other couple who were dancing in the same style, yet the usual feelings of embarrassment didn't follow. She was having fun, smiling as she danced and letting herself move with the rhythm.

Eventually the song came to a close, but it felt like it had only been seconds since it started. Everyone was clapping, and something prompted her to take a bow. After all, it was hard work to dance like that!

Tristan and the other couples laughed and followed suit, until a slow song took over the room.

'You tired yet?' he asked.

Rory smiled and moved into his arms for the slow dance. 'Oh yeah.' she said, resting her arms on his shoulders.

She could feel a pair of eyes on her, but tried to ignore whoever it was as she danced. She wasn't quite ready for the moment to end. 'You know, you were great out there.' she said.

'Yeah, well, I can't take all the credit.' he responded.

Rory rolled her eyes. 'No, it's not like you completely showed me what to do or anything.' she joked.

'I'm serious, you should consider becoming a dancer.'

'Now you're just mocking me.' she said, pushing him lightly with her shoulder.

He caught her in the new, closer position she'd created, holding her so she couldn't move back. She looked up at him, their eyes meeting as he looked back. 'Tristan-' she began to whine.

'What?' he feigned innocence.

'Let me go.' she said, smiling as he shook his head lightly.

She tensed for a moment more before accepting defeat and resting her head in the crook of his neck. Looking past him, she identified who was watching them. Logan?

Whitney was saying something to him but he was preoccupied, his eyes trained on her and Tristan, although he didn't seem to notice her watching him. He looked annoyed, if not angry.

Suddenly Tristan twisted them around so he could get a better view of whoever Rory was looking at. Figuring it out, he looked back at her. 'You know, he did say he liked your costume.' he teased.

'How do you know he's not looking at you?'

'Call it male instinct.' he responded, moving so his arms across her waist. He leant forward as they swayed so his mouth was right next to her ear, his breath tickling her neck. 'You know,' he whispered, 'I like your costume too.'

She could sense the smirk that she knew would have spread across his face as she breathed in quickly, surprised by his words. He pulled her even closer in response, so his leg rested inbetween her thighs.

She tried to think of a witty reply, but her mind was clouded by the heat coming from all directions. Her waist and back where his hands were, her legs where his leg was positioned, her neck where his mouth moved as he breathed, so close that she could feel the outline of his lips.

What was he doing to her? How come he thought he could just hold her like that, when there was nothing between them? He'd said so himself, what happened at Chilton was just him kidding around. So why did it feel like he hadn't been telling the truth? Why would he say that and act completely differently? What was he doing, touching her as if they were more than friends? As more and more questions invaded her head, she pushed the only important one back: Did that mean she felt the same?

'Hey Tristan?' she said quietly, noting how he squeezed her a little when she said his name. 'I changed my mind, I do want a drink.'

He moved away a little, so they were back to how they'd started dancing. It wasn't like they were standing far apart, but compared to a moment ago, it felt like miles. She could tell the moment had been broken.

'Oh, uh, sure.' he said, obviously surprised at her request. Had she not been enjoying dancing? 'What do you want?'

'Something strong.' she replied, walking away from the area where they'd been dancing. 'God knows I'll need it.' she murmured to herself as he walked away.

As soon as Tristan had disappeared, Logan came up to her. She'd positioned herself at a table, having found her spiky ball-and-chain. 'Hey Ace,' he said, his voice much less menacing than it had been earlier. 'You enjoying the party?'

'Yeah, thanks, I am.' she replied, not wanting to encourage a conversation. He was acting a little weird.

'Good, good, me too. I'm having a good time too.' he said, raising his glass to his lips.

She wondered if he was drunk. 'Good.'

'Yes, it is good.'

He was definitely a little tipsy. 'So, I didn't realise you and Tristan were close.' he said, taking another sip of his drink, all the while smiling at her.

'I've seen him a lot since he's been back.' she replied, humouring him a little.

'Oh, right, right. Well he must've made quite an impression.' he continued.

'He just asked me out, that's all.' she said, defending herself although she wasn't entirely sure why.

'Sure, sure.' He took yet another sip. 'He's kind of a jerk.'

'Excuse me?'

'Tristan. He's kind of a jerk. Haven't you noticed he's kind of a jerk?'

'Nope.' she said, a little annoyed.

'Huh.' He paused. 'Night's young.' he said, grabbing her hand. 'Come on.'

'Where are we going?' she questioned as he lead her away from the crowd. 'Logan!'

They stopped at the side of a hallway. 'You look great.'

'Thank you.' she said, a hint of annoyance still in her voice.

He barely let her reply before he leant in and kissed her deeply. But instead of the usual heat rising in her stomach, all she felt was disgust. 'Logan!' she said, pushing him away.

'What?' He looked genuinely confused.

'We can't do this! We have dates!' She was referring to Tristan, who was probably looking for her, but also to Whitney. After all, Logan had invited Whitney, not her, so he should stick with her.

He looked perplexed, before falling into an uncomfortable laugh. 'I don't like this.'

'Like what?'

'You here with Tristan.' he answered, still laughing a little.

'You're here with Whitney!'

He put his hands in the air. 'I know!'

'So, what's the problem?'

'You here with Tristan is bothering me and I don't like that it's bothering me.' he clarified.

Rory could not believe what she was hearing. 'Well, you're the one who brought Whitney, and it's not like you care that it bothers me.'

'That's different.' was his only reply.

'Logan, you're the one who said-'

'I know what I said.' he interrupted.

She sighed, walking away from him. 'So I'm just following the rules.' she said saccharine sweetly, even though anger still seeped through her voice.

Tristan was right where she'd been standing, waiting for her to return. 'Where'd you go?'

'Ladies' room.' she replied, taking a shot off the tray he'd brought with him.

He picked one up as well. 'Cheers.' he said, and downed it in a sip.

Rory did the same, before picking up a second one and throwing it back too. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Logan return to Whitney and sit her on his lap on the couch, kissing her roughly.

It was going to be a long night.

* * *

A few hours later and Rory had reunited with Steph, both of them so drunk they could barely stand while throwing themselves around 'dancing.' Something about those tequila shots had just made her forget everything that was stressing her out, and instead she was running wild and free with all her friends. The only one as drunk as her was Finn, who had steadily encouraged her that one more shot might not be a bad idea.

Even through her drunken haze she had been avoiding Logan. After all, that was the reason she'd done it, so she could make herself not care about the fact that he was basically having sex with Whitney over on the couch. She didn't care, it didn't concern her.

And Tristan, always her faithful knight in shining armour, was making sure she didn't do anything to stupid, like leave with someone or dance on a table or something, since he'd stood by his word to stay sober. She liked it this way, somebody looking out for her.

'Steph!' she shouted. 'I'm gonna go dance with Finny!'

Steph, who she was dancing with, looked extremely upset. 'But what about me?' she whined.

'It's Finny's birthday!' she replied, and stumbled over to him. A fast song began to play, and soon enough everyone was jumping around, trying to stay in time with the beat but failing miserably. The jumping wasn't great for her stomach though, so Finn lead her over to one of the couches.

'Love, you look a little bit green.' he slurred.

She closed her eyes tightly and opened them again. 'I don't feel good.'

Finn sat down next to her, and immediately she found herself draped all over him. She was just so tired. As she lay there, it occurred to her that they were sitting next to Logan and Whitney, who she'd done her best to avoid all night. She tried to focus her eyes somewhere else, but they just kept coming back to Logan, moving wildly next to her, still making out with Whitney.

She sighed. 'What's the matter, love?' Finn asked, his Australian accent thicker than ever.

The matter was that he couldn't make up his mind. He didn't bring her to the party, yet thought he could still act like she was his property! It didn't help that in the back of her mind she wished she hadn't pushed him away. God, why couldn't he just let her enjoy the party?

'I hate him.' she said quietly.

'Then…' he slapped his hands on his legs for a drumroll effect, 'Leave 'im!'

Rory nodded. 'Good idea.' she said slowly.

'What's stopping you?' he continued. 'There are a gazillion people you can get with besides him. He's a cock and you know it.'

She spotted a guy looking at her on the other side of the room. 'You're right.' she announced, and propelled herself off the couch and over to the guy.

She introduced herself. 'I'm Rory.'

The guy said his name but she didn't catch it, and went for a handshake which she turned into a hug. She held him there for a moment, before whispering in his ear just like Tristan had done to her. 'You're cute, wanna kiss?'

The guy shrugged, but she went in before he had a chance to actually reply, although she was pretty sure he was into it. His lips were moving along with hers.

It was like she was watching herself make out with him. She knew it wasn't what she did, it wasn't a very Rory thing to do, but she couldn't help it. Finn always had the best ideas.

She could feel his hands on her butt as they kissed, and she pulled him closer and kissed him harder. They were near a wall, so it wasn't like the whole party was ogling at them, but even so the sane part of her told her that they were too exposed.

Apparently he thought the same thing. 'You wanna go somewhere?' he asked inbetween kisses.

She nodded in response, and took his hand. Looking around, she tried to find the door but couldn't remember where it was, so instead figured they'd wander around until they found it.

Tristan spotted them obviously trying to leave, Rory leading the guy but they were both stumbling. He marched over to them quickly, determined not to let them go. Rory didn't seem to notice him at first, so he moved to stand in front of the door. She walked right into him, and only then did she look up.

'Trissy!' she exclaimed, letting go of the other guy's hand to give him a hug. 'Meet…' she trailed off, and turned to the guy. 'What's your name again?'

'George.' he replied, smiling widely at Tristan.

'Meet George!' she finished.

'And where are you and George going?' he asked gently, trying not to get Rory worked up.

'I don't know. Where are we going George?'

He thought for a moment. 'My place.' he said finally.

'See, I'm going to George's! Bye!' she said loudly, trying to push past Tristan.

He shook his head lightly. 'Mary, Mary, I don't think that's a good idea.'

She looked confused. 'Why? I wanna go to George's!' she giggled.

George stepped forward, suddenly looking a little scarier. 'Yeah, she wants to come.' he slurred.

Tristan stepped forward so only George could hear him. 'Listen up. You're drunk, you should go home. She's also drunk, so she's gonna go home. Got it?'

'Listen up.' George said, imitating him. 'Get outta my face!' he shouted, shoving Tristan back.

At once, Tristan stepped forward again, pushed George up against the wall and grabbed his shoulders, squeezing them so his thumbs turned white.

'Ow, man, get off me!' George begged, suddenly looking desperate.

'Stay away.' he said slowly, his voice deathly low. 'I'm serious. Go home, and everything will be fine. But one more move, and I'll break your collarbone.'

George nodded quickly, and Tristan released him. He looked around, checking to see if anyone saw him. It looked like Rory was the only spectator. She waved to George as he left.

'Bye bye.' she mumbled, before swaying over to a different sofa and collapsing on it dramatically.

Worried, Tristan followed and sat down next to her. It was so unlike her, to get herself so drunk that she passed out, and to almost leave with some guy she just met. He knew it was hypocritical, but he couldn't help himself and found himself wondering what must be going on to make her do that. Something told him it wasn't just for fun.

He felt her slump onto his shoulders, signifying that she'd fallen fully asleep, and decided to take her home before anything else almost happened. He slipped an arm behind her back and grabbed her legs, all the while coaxing her gently. 'Come on,' he murmured, causing Rory to stir in his arms and move so that she was holding him. He looked around for anything that may have been hers, but decided she must've kept everything in her pockets so headed for the door.

Her body was light in his arms even though her head was resting heavily against his shoulder, and he could feel the heat radiating off of her as they moved through the party. She looked uneasy, her eyebrows furrowed even in sleep. As soon as they made it out, he felt her shiver. Subconsciously, he tightened his grip and felt her move in response, changing position so that her arms were wrapped around his neck.

They got to the car. Tristan fumbled through his pockets for his keys, and once he found them opened the door and gently placed Rory inside.

'Tristan?' she mumbled, still half asleep.

Still crouching down next to the car, he replied, 'Yes, Mary?'

She smiled. 'Thanks for being here.'

He knew she wouldn't remember any of it, that she probably didn't even know what she was saying, but there was a sincerity to her words that caused him to lean into the car, closer to her. 'It's my job.'

Her sleepy eyes looked straight into his, although he could tell she wasn't really focussing on him. 'You're good at it.' she remarked.

He shrugged. 'I try.'

She was quiet for a moment, leaving them in silence apart from the faint noise of the party in the background. The night itself was still, the moon barely lighting up the sky.

'Thanks.' she repeated, and closed her eyes, straining up to reach him.

He could tell she was trying to kiss him. 'Rory.'

'Yeah?' she replied with a lazy half smile.

'Don't do that.'

She opened her eyes innocently. 'What, you mean this?' she said, and moved quickly to kiss him. She didn't realise he'd stepped back for a while since her eyes were closed, but once she had, an expression of sadness immediately crossed her face. He regretted moving away as soon as he saw it.

She pulled the car door shut with a slam. Great, she was mad. This was going to be a fun ride home.

He walked around to his side of the car and got in, jamming his key in the ignition. 'Of course she would be mad. I'm taking her home, the only logical feeling is anger.' he mumbled sarcastically. He looked over at her, expecting to see her sulking and looking out the window, but instead she was fast asleep, her mouth open and her body sprawled across the seat. She looked so peaceful that he his annoyance disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.

The whole drive was passed in silence, as he didn't want to turn the radio on just in case it woke Rory up. Soon enough, they were at her dorm. There was a light on inside. He picked her up gently and carried her inside, locking his car over his shoulder. He hadn't even knocked on the door yet when Paris opened it, looking angrier than he'd ever seen her.

'What do you think you're doing?!' she whispered, loud enough to make Rory move a little in his arms.

'I'm bringing her home. She's drunk.'

'No. I'm talking about the date in the first place. I thought I told you not to go anywhere near her!'

Rory looked like she was about to wake up. 'Look Paris, I'm just gonna put Rory in her room so you don't wake her up, then we can continue this. Alright?' he explained.

Paris only nodded.

Hoisting her up so he could support her with one arm, he opened the door to her room and went inside, doing his best to see in the dark since he didn't want to turn on the lights. He laid her down on the bed and untied her shoes before going back out to Paris, closing the door softly as he went.

Before Paris had a chance to say anything, he began. 'We went as friends, nothing else. In fact, she was leaving with some guy called… I think it was George? Anyway, I brought her here, so get off my back.' he finished with a deep breath.

For once Paris was speechless. 'Fine.'

He thought she was going to say more, but instead she pointed to the door. 'Are you leaving?'

He ignored her rude tone. 'Bye Paris.' he said, walking back out the door.

What was her problem anyway?

* * *

Rory opened her eyes slowly and found herself in bed, feeling sicker than ever. She felt a wave of nausea, causing her to push herself out of bed and frantically make her way to the bathroom. She got there in time, trailed by Paris who held her hair up as she puked.

Paris didn't say anything, but she could feel the judgement coming off of her as she stood there, watching. Finally, Rory finished and turned around, looking Paris directly in the eyes. She expected her to be harsh and unforgiving, and that was exactly what she saw.

'Why did you do this to yourself?' Paris asked, simply but not at all sympathetically.

Rory closed her eyes as she tried to think of an answer, letting a few tears slip out and fall down her cheeks. She felt Paris crouch down next to her and hold her for a few seconds before sitting down completely. Paris being compassionate was so unusual that she couldn't help but take advantage of it, and leant against her as she began to sob. It was like Paris already knew what the reason was anyway.

And as she sat there with her head in Paris' lap, choking out phrases that made no sense between sobs, she knew what she had to do.

If Logan was the reason she was laying on the bathroom floor, then something had to change.

* * *

 _A/N- That scene at the end with Paris is based on the end of Season 5 Episode 18, although in the show it is with Lorelai instead of Paris._

 _This chapter wasn't supposed to be so long, but I guess 9,650 words makes up for the age it's taken me to update. I personally don't think this is my best work- at times I feel like the writing doesn't flow very well, but it's the plot that's important, even if it feels like not much happened in this chapter._

 _Part of the reason I took so long to update was because I was writing the first chapter to my new fic, Beaufort Park. It has a lot more action since I'm not trying to base it around what would happen in the show, so check it out and leave a review on it if you think it's worth continuing._

 _Anyway, the next few chapters (of this) have some big drama, so be excited! If you have any pointers on how to improve my writing style (or anything else!) tell me in the reviews._


	9. Chapter 9

_A/N- I know it's been an age, but I finally got round to updating! Thanks for all of the reviews, it really makes my day when the little emails that tell me someone's followed/favourited/reviewed come in. As an apology for not updating, this chapter begins with something a little more fun._

 _Some of the dialogue at the beginning has been take from the episode._

 **Chapter 9- But I'm a Gilmore**

'Tristan, I—'

Rory's words were cut off by his mouth fusing to hers as he leant over her, resting his weight on his arms which were placed either side of her, not quite touching her sides but close enough for her to feel the heat radiating off them. He kissed her with such intensity that she could barely breathe, let alone think. All she was aware of was the contact between their bodies, and the overwhelming feelings he elicited within her. Eagerly, she arched against him and kissed back, parting her lips to allow him entrance as he sucked on them gently. Suddenly, his arms had moved from their place, and instead his hands were pinning hers down next to her head on her pillow. He deepened the kiss, causing her to be pressed down into the mattress, and she couldn't help but let out a whimper at the feeling of Tristan's leg now positioned between hers.

There was something that felt so dangerous about them being together in her childhood home, her bookshelves filled with her precious books and her stuffed animals sitting on the chair across from her single bed. It was funny in a way, for him to be there after all this time. But she was jolted from her train of thought as he broke his lips from hers, and began placing delicate kisses all down her neck and onto her collarbone, moving the neck of her pyjama top to allow more exposed skin, and slowly, she felt her wrists be released as he moved his to her waist, pushing up her shirt a little. Her hands went to his blonde and tousled hair as he lifted her up ever so slightly so that her stomach met his lips as he continued his ministrations, his blue eyes gazing over the expanse of skin beneath him. She watched him, the muscles on his tanned back quivering as he focussed on the task at hand. He really was beautiful. Her breathing became even shallower as he travelled the distance back up to her mouth with his lips, hovering over her breast for a moment longer. She realised her shirt was missing, yet she had no recollection of him ever unbuttoning it. She laughed to herself; like Tristan would ever have the patience to deal with pyjamas with buttons.

All at once, his lips were back on hers and he was kissing her roughly, demandingly, causing her to moan at the contact. But that feeling was nothing compared to the jolt of electricity through her core when he once again lifter her hips off the bed so that she could feel his arousal. Her eyes widened involuntarily as he began to grind against her. 'Tristan,' she said breathily, 'I need,' she continued, breathing heavily. 'Tristan,' her breaths grew more rapid, her voice more high pitched. 'Tristan!'

And all at once she opened her eyes. Where was she? It took a second for her senses to come back to her, for her to realise that whatever she'd just experienced had all been in her head. Light was streaming through the window and she wondered if she had forgotten to close the curtains the night before. She stared at the ceiling for another moment before attempting to sit up, only to fall straight back down onto the bed at the strength of her headache. Squinting, she looked around, and realised she was in her dorm, still dressed in her old Chilton uniform that she'd been wearing as a costume last night. She tried to remember exactly how she'd gotten home, and exactly how much she'd had to drink, but deciding it wasn't worth trying to puzzle it out when she'd just woken up, she groaned, pushed herself up out of bed and stumbled out into the middle room.

'Paris,' she whined, 'Why'd you let me sleep in—' She stopped abruptly. 'Hey, did you get tacos?' she puzzled, frowning. 'Cause nobody but my mom ever buys me tacos…'

'Surprise!' Lorelai exclaimed, popping up from behind the counter of the kitchenette.

Rory cringed. 'Oh, too loud, too loud.'

'How are ya feeling? Good? Terrific! I got tacos. I got soft tacos, I got fries, curly, straight, and spicy—'

Lorelai's torrent of words was cut off by Paris. 'Are you serious? I asked you to come help me, not do a taco run!'

'Trust me, this is the _best_ hangover food on the East Coast. Coffee will be up in a minute, so grab some water and start hydrating!' she continued.

'I have never felt so gross in my life.' Rory said, shaking her head.

'That's my little college girl!' came Lorelai's perky reply.

Rory slumped down on the couch and peered into one of the bags that were spread out on the coffee table. 'Tito's was open this early?'

'It was for me.' Lorelai said with a wink.

'The power you have over fast-food owners is astonishing.' She pulled a taco out of a bag. 'You want one?' she asked Paris.

'Not in a million years.'

Rory bit into her taco. 'By the way, thanks for leaving me in these clothes all night. I'm pretty sure I've got the Chilton crest emblazoned on my hip.' she said with her mouth full.

'Well it wasn't like I was going to undress you! Besides, I did try to take off the blazer.' Paris exclaimed indignantly. 'And I forced you to get back in bed! If it was up to you, you'd still be asleep on the bathroom floor.'

'Supposedly you used your foot to stop her.' Lorelai added.

Finishing her taco, Rory stood up and promptly brought her hand to her head, before looking around the room in a confused haze, trying to remember where she had left her bag.

'What are you looking for?' Lorelai asked.

'My purse.'

Lorelai smiled teasingly. 'I believe it's in your room.'

'Room?' She had no recollection of even bringing her purse home, much less leaving her it in there. She'd assumed that in her drunked haze she'd flung it on the couch or something.

'It's that way.' Lorelai pointed in the direction of her room, still teasing her a little.

'Right.' Rory headed to her door, trailed by Lorelai, leaving Paris staring at the bags of food deciding whether or not to try a taco.

Rory surveyed the room, and frowned when she still couldn't see the bag. 'Where is it?' she asked, a little embarrassed that she couldn't see it.

Lorelai walked over to the desk and checked to see if it was on the chair. 'I just assumed Tristan would've put it in here when he brought you back.'

'Wait, what?'

Lorelai tried to stop herself from smirking. 'Didn't Paris tell you? Tristan pulled a real Knight in Shining Armour, rescuing you from the evil George and restoring you to your safe bed.'

Rory sat down on the unmade bed. 'Oh, you're getting a real kick out of this, aren't you?' she fumed, glaring at her mother.

Lorelai laughed. 'What can I say? I always knew Bible Boy would make a come back!'

'Yeah, well he couldn't have stayed at military school forever, unfortunately.' she replied, still glaring.

'Come on, I thought you two were on good terms when he left, and anyway, he did a nice thing bringing you home.' Lorelai said, still smiling as she tried to scold her daughter.

Rory sighed and laid backwards on the bed. 'Yeah Mom, I know.'

'Goodie! Cause if I heard correctly, there were definitely a few 'Oh, Tristan!'s and 'Tristan, I want you!'s coming from this room 10 minutes ago.' Lorelai replied, smiling evilly. 'Are you gonna tell me what that was about?'

'I don't know what you are talking about.' Rory muttered. Did Paris hear too?

As if she read her mind, Lorelai calmed her fears. 'Don't worry, Paris was making a call outside. She missed out on the fun.' she said, still smirking.

Rory didn't say anything. In fact, all she wanted at that moment was for a sinkhole to open up underneath her, or anything else to get out of this conversation.

'Aw, I'm not trying to be mean, I just can't help it if I think it's hilarious that after all those years of denying _everything_ to do with Tristan, you can't even stop thinking about him!' Lorelai said, her voice getting higher and louder until she finished with a huge exclamation, before bursting into laughter.

'It's not funny!' Rory said indignantly.

Lorelai stifled her giggles for a second, just to squeeze out 'Oh, but it is!' in a singsong voice as she waltzed out of the room, leaving Rory groaning and covering her eyes.

* * *

She took a deep breath as she knocked at the door of Logan's dorm. She wasn't nervous exactly, her headache was too bad to allow that, but a little antsy as she waited for him to answer. Her mom had gone home around 10, and it had taken her all morning to muster up the courage to fight her headache and get out of bed, thus she had plenty of time to recall the events of the night before. She remembered the beginning of the party, dancing with Tristan, Logan's jealous freak-out, then him and Whitney, but after that the rest was a bit of a blur. She figured that's when she started drinking. There was something about a guy that she danced with for a while, but she couldn't remember what happened with that. She couldn't even remember if he was cute, much less what his name was. God, she hoped she hadn't embarrassed herself.

She heard him coming and jammed her hands in her pockets just as he came to the door.

'Well, this is a surprise.' he said, smiling as he saw her.

She didn't smile back. 'Can I come in?'

'Uh, sure,' he replied, looking a little confused. 'You wanna sit down?'

'Nope. Got to stay vertical.' she joked, but without a smile he didn't really get it. She could tell as he looked at her strangely, trying to figure out what was going on. 'What?'

'You have like a hand imprint on your face.' he said, chuckling to himself and taking a step forward.

But before he could kiss her, she got it out. 'I can't do this anymore, Logan.'

'Do what?' he asked, still leaning a little closer, pretending not to understand.

She looked up, exasperated. 'This casual-dating thing. I don't like it, it's not who I am, and I don't wanna make it who I am.'

Logan walked over to the couch, breaking eye contact. 'Woah, hold on here. Where's this coming from?'

Something about the way he had no idea what this was about made her start to worry that maybe she was being ridiculous. After all, what had he really done? 'It's coming from me, the ravishing creature standing in front of you.' she replied in an attempt to lighten the mood.

'We talked about this.' His face was suddenly serious.

'I know.'

'I didn't make you do this.'

'I know.' she said again, a little more forcefully.

'I don't understand, I thought everything was going so well.' he said faster. Rory thought she could hear a hint of panic in his voice.

She frowned. 'What are you talking about? We haven't been on a date in two weeks, yet every time I see you you're with a different girl! I don't enjoy being third choice, Logan.' she said, a little more harshly than she'd intended.

'I was busy, and I thought you wouldn't want to go to Finn's party!'

'Yeah, whatever.' She rolled her eyes. 'You know what? It doesn't matter, you're not my boyfriend. You don't owe me any explanations.' she continued, trying to sound cooler than she felt. 'I just don't want to be one of the many anymore.' she said, shrugging.

'Oh, Rory, come on.'

She could tell he was about to say more, but his roommate interrupted them. 'Hey Logan, Cassandra's on the phone.'

'Cassandra?' Rory echoed, her eyebrows raised.

Logan just looked at his feet.

'This is exactly what I can't deal with, Logan! I like you and I like spending time with you, but I can't do it like this anymore. Let's just be friends.'

'Rory, I can't be friends with you!'

She sighed. 'Fine.'

'Fine, what?!'

'Fine, we won't be friends then.' she said, turning on her heel and storming out of his dorm.

She marched back to her own dorm, her frown deepening with every step. How dare he act like he didn't know what was going on, like he didn't know that it hurt her. He knew exactly what he was going when they were skiing, she couldn't forget those little digs at her and how he'd done nothing but dote on Charlie that whole trip. And then Charlie was replaced with Whitney, and now Cassandra! She couldn't keep up!

She felt a tear slide down her cheek as she realised what she'd done. Fine, they wouldn't be friends, she'd said. So they wouldn't be. But it was slowly dawning on her that all of her new friends were Logan's friends. They were all one group, one she could only be in or out of. So if she and Logan weren't going to be friends, what about her and Steph. What about Finn?

What about Tristan? Sure, he was friends with Paris, but she couldn't help but notice the frosty relationship they had right now. So was he off limits too? After all, Logan basically his brother. Her heart sunk at the thought of not seeing him anymore, just after they'd reconnected. She hadn't even realised how much she liked him, until this moment. Her mid wandered back to her dream. She still didn't know what that was about, especially considering that she and Tristan were nothing more than friends. She sighed uneasily, but decided it didn't mean anything. It was probably nothing more than the fact that she was drunk mixed with the fact that they had been dancing. It couldn't be more than that, she thought as she suppressed the memory of that particular dance, when his hands had pressed her against him and his breath had been tickling her ear.

* * *

Rory was curled up on the couch in her dorm, watching A Room With a View and wishing her mother was there so that they could swoon over Julian Sands. It had been three days since her talk with Logan, and she hadn't left her dorm except for class. Paris was driving her nuts.

Even though she wasn't surprised, a small part of her had expected one of her friends to stop by, see how she was doing. At least Steph. But nobody showed. They were probably just giving her space, as by now Logan would've told them they'd broken up. Or they would've guessed. At least, Steph would have.

She tried hard not to be upset. It was just that she thought she had found someone who understood her as well as Lane did, but someone who's dorm was just down the hall. How hard would it have been just to stop by? But by that logic, she could've gone over to Steph's, which she didn't.

She blinked a few times and tried to focus on the movie, anything to stop the thoughts that were swirling around in her head.

Suddenly, her door was thrown open. 'Love!' Finn exclaimed, running inside.

He swept her into a suffocating hug as she stood up to meet him, before stepping back to admire her I Love Lucy pyjamas. 'You know, I am quite the fan of those.' he said.

Rory smiled and sat back down on the couch, patting the cushion next to her. 'What are you doing here?' She crossed her legs and turned around so that she was facing him.

'Well, Kitten, I just thought as nobody'd seen you in while, it might be worth checking up on you.' he said sweetly.

'Thanks,' she said, touched by the thought. It was nice to know they were thinking about her after all. 'But you didn't have to, I mean I'm alright here with my movies and my ice cream…' she trailed off, pointing at the empty tub on the coffee table. But then she saw Finn's expression of pity. 'Oh no. Don't you start. I am _not_ wallowing.'

'Then why haven't you called anyone? Why haven't you met us at lunch? It sure seems to me like you're wallowing.'

It was funny how much thicker his accent sounded when he spoke quietly.

'My guess is that you broke up with Logan. Am I right?' he asked, even though he already knew the answer.

Rory leant back against the arm of the couch. 'First of all, we didn't break up considering we were never really together in the first place. But yeah, I did tell him we were done. Honestly, I'm not that upset. Just relieved.' she finished with a small smile.

Finn still looked confused. 'Okay, but if you aren't wallowing and you aren't sad, then why are you avoiding us?'

She looked away, then explained in a small voice, 'He said we couldn't be friends. So, I'm only friends with you through him, so I guess that means I can't be friends with any of you.'

'That's ridiculous!'

'No, it isn't.' she said, cutting him off as he took a breath, about to say more. 'You were friends with him first. So was Steph.'

Finn stood up. 'You aren't being fair!' he whined. 'It's not our fault that Logan doesn't wanna be friends with you anymore! You know, this whole time Steph thought she'd done something wrong, that you were mad at her, but really, you just sacrificed her to appease Logan!' he said melodramatically. Even so, Rory couldn't help but feel a little bad at the thought of Steph thinking that his was about her.

Finn continued. 'Unless you just don't want to see Logan… is that it?'

'No! I don't care about Logan anymore! I'm over it! I just thought that it wouldn't really be fair of me to keep hanging around him if he said he doesn't want to be friends!'

Finn sat back down, his outburst over. 'It sounds like his declaration of no friendship hurt your feelings, Love.'

Rory scoffed. 'Since when did you become a psychologist?'

'I don't know.' he replied, deep in thought. 'It doesn't matter, though.' he continued perking up. 'Because we're going to the pub tonight, and you're coming with me.'

She debated arguing with him some more, as she knew that the evening would be nothing but awkward, but decided that it wasn't worth it. 'Fine. But don't expect me to socialise. And you're paying for my drinks.'

Finn laughed. 'Sure, kitten. I'll see you later!' he called as he made his way back out of the dorm, almost tripping on the rug.

As soon as she heard her door close, she let out a groan. What had she gotten herself into?

* * *

She was going to kill Finn.

Rory glared down at her almost empty Irish coffee. She wished it was just plain coffee, but if she was going to deal with Logan for a whole night, she was going to need some alcohol in her system.

She glanced down at her watch. It read nine forty-five.

They were supposed to meet at nine, although she'd been late anyway since it took her a little longer than she expected to find her phone, but they still hadn't shown up. She finished her drink in one big gulp and considered ordering another, but she was just too annoyed. She probably wouldn't be staying long enough to finish another one.

She hadn't wanted to, but she'd come. And she'd waited a half hour, and still they were't here. No call, no nothing. Angrily, she resumed giving the empty coffee mug the death stare.

Her self-pity was broken by someone sitting down next to her, but she didn't bother to look up. She didn't want to talk to anyone.

'Mary, do you want a new drink to glare at, cause that can be arranged…'

It was Tristan. She turned her head to face him, and raised an eyebrow at the smirk that covered his face. 'I don't know what you think is so funny.' She directed her glare towards him instead of the coffee cup.

'Watching you try to make that burst into flames is relatively amusing.' he replied, his smirk growing by the minute. His eyes danced as he watched her, waiting for her response. It amazed her how he could completely disregard her angry tone.

She narrowed her eyes. 'You'd think it would've by now. I've been waiting forty-five minutes.' That wasn't entirely true, but there wasn't any harm in a little exaggeration.

His eyes softened and she could tell he felt bad. 'We spent a while trying to convince Juliet and Rosemary to come. God knows why.' he said, smiling a little as he shook his head.

'You don't like them?' she asked, intrigued.

'No, I do,' he answered, cocking his head to one side. 'Sometimes they're just a little…loud.' He looked over to where the others were gathered, at the pool table, as if they'd heard him. Then he leaned closer. 'I'm sure they're better one on one.' he whispered with a wink.

'Tristan!' she exclaimed, shocked at his innuendo. 'I don't know why I'm surprised.' She watched as the traces of another smirk appeared on his face.

He didn't answer her but instead got signalled to the bartender to get him a drink. 'You want anything?' he asked.

She nodded, but before she could reply he'd ordered her a rum and coke. 'You didn't have to do that, you know. I can speak for myself.' she said, her voice annoyed but she had a feeling the teasing look in her eyes gave her away.

'Oh I know.' he chuckled. 'Apart from Paris, you talk more than anyone else.' he teased back.

'What's up with you and Paris anyway? She seems kind of mad at you.' Rory stated.

He groaned. 'Who knows. With Paris there's always something.'

He'd hit the nail right on the head with that one. She even seemed mad that he'd brought her home last night. 'Thanks for making sure I got home alright. It was nice of you.' she said earnestly.

'It wasn't a big deal.' he said, brushing off her compliment. He stared uncomfortably down at his beer.

'Seriously though, I've had some recollection of a guy and—'

'George.' Tristan cut her off. She couldn't tell if there was a hint of frustration in his tone.

'Yeah, George. Anyway, if it wasn't for you I may have not woken up in my own bed.' she joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Tristan sighed. 'Rory, I already told you, it wasn't a big deal. Don't worry about it.' He gulped his beer, closing his eyes so he wouldn't have to make eye contact.

She wasn't really sure what was going on. 'Okay, okay! I get it. No biggie.' she said, smiling and touching his forearm to make sure he knew she wasn't going to push it. He jerked back from her touch, as if she'd electric shocked him.

She turned back to her drink once again. Realising he'd offended her, he tried to break the silence. 'Steph's over there, I know she's dying to see you.' He paused, waiting for her to respond. 'I'm just gonna get some air. I'll be right back.' he said, tilting his head to get her to look him in the eye.

Before she knew it, he was already by the door. Leaving her drink abandoned at the bar, she followed him. 'Tristan, wait!'

He was standing in front of the building, a cigarette sticking out of his mouth as he focussed on trying to get his lighter to work. 'What was that?' she questioned.

He didn't look up. 'What was what?' he mumbled around the cigarette. He was frowning subconsciously at the lighter as it once again failed to make a flame.

'That not-so-subtle exit.' She just wanted to grab the lighter out of his hand, since it obviously wasn't going to work anytime soon. He didn't answer her immediately, instead still messing around with he lighter. Finally, he managed to get a flame and touched it to the end of his cigarette. Ignoring her question, he took a deep breath before blowing a little smoke to his side, careful not to get it in Rory's face.

She decided to drop it. 'Those things'll kill you, you know.'

He raised an eyebrow, amused. 'State the obvious, Mary.' As if to prove his point, he took another huge breath, this time letting a little of the smoke sit inbetween them.

God, he was so annoying. He was still smirking at her, like she was being serious. And that nickname. But she didn't let her annoyance show through. Instead, she smiled sweetly and leant closer to him. 'Can I try?' she asked, but didn't wait for him to answer and took the cigarette from between his lips.

He registered what she'd done with a look of surprise, watching as she delicately placed it between her own. The end was a little damp from being in his mouth yet for some reason, she wasn't disgusted. In fact, her heart beat a little faster at the thought. She breathed in but held the smoke in her mouth, the bitter taste sitting on her tongue, before turning away like Tristan had to breathe it out again. She held it between her fingers, her arm bent, pointing away from them and just looked at him for a moment, daring him to say something.

She should've known he wouldn't let her get away with that. 'No, no, no, Mary. You're doing it all wrong.' he said, his voice low and quiet, his ever-present smirk growing wider by the second. He took a step forward and gently touched his hand to her wrist. Now she understood why he'd jerked away from her touch earlier, the jolt running all down her arm almost made her do the same. He guided her hand and the cigarette back up to her mouth and used his other hand to cup her cheek. She felt her lips part in preparation but knew she hadn't meant to. There was something about Tristan that made her do things that she wasn't even aware of.

'Now, inhale. Into your lungs.' His voice was even lower, even quieter, and his eyes had darkened significantly. She took a deep breath, never breaking eye contact with him. He took another step forward, still not removing his hand from her cheek. She noticed that his smirk had disappeared. The hand that had been resting underneath her wrist made its way to her chin, brushed down her neck and ran down her arm, finally settling in her other hand where he lifted it up and interlocked their fingers.

Again, she turned to the side and breathed out, holding the cigarette away from them, but she looked back at him again. His eyes were closed. He was so close to her, his lips just millimetres from her own and it took all her willpower not to bridge the gap and kiss him. Suddenly, he opened his eyes and they locked with hers, so big in front of her as she looked up at him. She felt her own eyes widen a little as he began to lean down. She closed them tightly and subconsciously strained upward on her tip toes.

But he never made contact. Instead, he snatched the cigarette from her fingers and returned it to its rightful place between his lips. He didn't even need a hand to hold it up. She was stunned, but tried not to let it show. Laughing, she shook her head. 'Possessive, as always.' she commented.

He shrugged. 'I like to make sure people know what's mine.' he said, throwing in a wink. He sat down on the bench next to them and motioned for her to the same. She gave in and positioned herself next to him, pretending not to notice as he made himself comfortable with an arm flung across the back, almost like he had put it around her. 'So, are you gonna tell me where you've been the last few days?'

Rory sighed. Of course he wanted to talk about it. 'Well, I broke things off with Logan and—'

'Logan?' he interrupted. She could see the shock on his face. 'You and Logan were dating?'

He was obviously confused. 'No, we weren't dating. We were just in a…' She paused, trying to think of the word. 'A thing.'

He shook his head, disbelieving. 'A _thing_?' he repeated, his mocking tone annoying her.

She sighed. 'Yes, a thing. But I didn't like the _thing_ since he was always flaunting the other girls in front of me. So I broke it off.'

She could see him puzzling it out in front of her as he did furrowed his brow. 'So that's why he was death staring us last night.' he stated, his tone not matching his joking words.

Rory nodded.

'And that's why Steph asked me to come to Stowe. He was the guy?' His voice was calm but she could hear something seeping through his voice. Was it anger?

She nodded again. For some reason, she felt like she couldn't look at him.

He shook his head in disbelief and leant back again, taking a drag from his cigarette.

They sat in silence for a minute. Her heart was still beating fast from their closeness a moment before, and now combined with his surprise with Logan? She needed a minute to figure everything out.

She thought he'd known about Logan. How else would Steph have been able to convince him to come? Besides, how could he have missed it? It wasn't like she and Logan had been subtle. She felt herself slowly look over at him next to her. His legs were spread out in front of him, his head flung back as he looked up at the sky, occasionally looking down to smoke his cigarette. It was almost gone by now.

Out of the blue, he turned to her. 'Look, Rory, why don't you go back inside. I know Steph's dying to see you.' he said, smiling a little but not really succeeding in convincing her.

She hesitated, taken aback. 'Okay… are you coming?' She stood up and gestured to the door of the pub.

He thought for a moment, before shaking his head. 'Nah, I'm gonna head back. The nicotine rush will wear off any minute now.'

'Oh.' She hoped she hadn't sounded too disappointed. She searched for something to say. 'Um…'

He got up to stand in front of her. 'Aw, Mary, don't be sad. I know you just can't get enough of me.' he teased, his smirk returning to his face.

She rolled her eyes. 'I think I'll survive.'

He chuckled. 'Nice to know where I stand in the world!' Smiling, he leant over to her and brushed his lips across her cheek. Her breath hitched in her throat.

'I'll see you tomorrow.' he said quietly, not breaking eye contact, and then walked away down the street to where his car was parked.

She brought her hand to her cheek where he'd kissed her as she watched his retreating form get farther and farther away, and hoped her breathing would return to normal. And as he disappeared from sight, she wondered why his words didn't sound like a question.

* * *

'Night, Rory!' Steph called from down the hall as she jammed the keys into the lock on her door.

'Night!' Rory shouted back, and was about to do the same when Paris flung open the door.

'Shut up!' she hissed. 'You'll wake up the whole building!' she exclaimed as she grabbed Rory's hand and dragged her inside.

'Okay, okay, sorry Paris!' Rory laughed.

Paris narrowed her eyes. 'Are you drunk?'

Rory thought for a moment. Sure she'd had a few drinks, but she felt fine. 'No, I'm alright.' She and Steph had spent the rest of the night together, laughing and joking and talking, and not for the first time, she wondered how she'd gotten so lucky as to find Steph. They hadn't had to talk about Logan, and she figured Finn had told her everything she needed to know. If she was hurt that Rory hadn't told her, she didn't show it, and Rory had had more fun that night than she'd had in a while.

She had just turned out her light and settled on her pillow when she heard her phone ring. Quickly she jumped out of bed, rummaged around her purse and answered it without reading the caller ID in hopes that she would avoid Paris' wrath. Any noises late at night seemed to piss her off.

'Rory! Rory!'

It was Steph, and judging from her loud and high-pitched squeal she was excited about something. 'What?' she asked groggily.

'Tristan and Logan had a fight!'

She sat up, shocked. 'What?!'

'They had a fight! Well, it was more of Tristan beating Logan up. You wouldn't happen to know what that was about, would you?' Steph enquired innocently, but Rory knew that she was fully aware of what was going on.

She ignored her question. 'How do you know?'

'I was just looking for Colin so I stopped by Logan's dorm and of course, I never knock, so I walked straight in on them.'

'Colin, huh?' Rory teased, hoping it would divert some attention away from her.

'Yeah, whatever. So, isn't it romantic?!'

'Huh?'

'You know, Tristan finding out that _Logan_ was the guy I called him about, I mean I'm assuming that's what happened, and then avenging your honor?! I won't lie though, I'm surprised it took him this long to figure it out. Actually, I didn't even mean to not tell him, I thought it was obvious. Apparently not! Men, am I right?'

'Are you sure that's the reason?' She still wasn't convinced.

She heard Steph sigh into the phone. 'Fine, I may have eavesdropped at the door first. But yes, you are definitely the reason. Any hints on why Tristan would do that for you? Hm?'

Rory swallowed. 'No, I mean, we're friends now, but I can't imagine him doing that.'

That was a lie. Of course she could imagine Tristan doing that. She'd seen him try at the Chilton winter formal, and she imagined military school had improved those skills.

'You seem to be making quite the impression.' Steph joked. 'First Logan, then Finn, now Tristan. I should watch my back before you go after Colin!'

Rory frowned. 'What do you mean?'

'Don't worry, I just meant you've settled in well. You're pretty much a fully-fledged member of the group!' she said, her tone nothing but happy and excited.

She smiled. 'It's nice to finally have a group.'

'I'm happy we're friends.' Steph replied, making Rory's smile grow.

'Yeah, me too.' she replied.

'Night, Rory.' Steph said, hanging up before Rory could reply.

She threw her phone on the side table and rolled over, snuggling into her blankets and closing her eyes. And right as she was drifting off to sleep, she had a faint memory from the night of Finn's party.

It was Tristan, tucking her in, untying her shoes. It must've been from when he brought her home. He headed over to the door, but turned back before he reached it and came and stood next to the bed. 'Night, Mary.' he whispered, and leant over her to give her a small kiss on the head.

She smiled to herself, and curled up in her bed.

'Night, Mary' he had said.


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N- How long has it been? A while. It's funny, when I used to just read fanfiction I would always be like 'how hard is it to update? how could they leave it for so long?' but now I understand, especially since I'm such a perfectionist. I've actually been writing this chapter since January, when I planned out the next five but sometimes the inspiration hits and sometimes it doesn't. Anyway, I just want to reassure any frustrated readers that this story will be finished (eventually!) Also, a quick reminder that season 5 takes place in 2005 for anyone wanting some context._

 ** _—_** _that A/N is from about 8 months ago, this chapter has been stuck at 6000 words for such an age, I'm so sorry._

 **Chapter 10- The Article**

'Doyle, can I go now?' Rory asked, exasperated.

She'd been in the newsroom for over two hours, listening to Doyle give her advice on how to write _one of the year's most important articles._ She was beginning to wonder if he regretted giving it to her or something, as he obviously thought she would not be a competent enough writer for the article. Or maybe he was realising how impossible the task he was requesting would turn out to be. But she humoured him, because it was the headlining piece for the annual political special.

'Are you listening?' he asked sarcastically. His arms were crossed in frustration, and Rory wondered how long he'd been standing like that. She'd zoned out a good ten minutes ago.

She sighed. 'Yes, Doyle. I'm listening.' Her patience was wearing thin.

'The piece is part of our political issue, _Iraq: Two Years On,_ and you're doing the portion on the lives of the soldiers. Find some quotes, interview some people, you know how it is. Got it?'

Grabbing her bag, she got up hurriedly to leave. 'Got it.' she replied, and speed-walked out of the room before he could ask, say, or instruct anything else.

She was tired, frustrated, and in desperate need of coffee, but most of all, had no idea where she was going to find someone to interview for this. It wasn't like she could even do a phone interview, since the interviewee would be _in Iraq_. Where would she even get a phone number?

Taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself down, she fumbled with the lock on the door to her suite until it finally gave in. She made her way over to the kitchenette and had just started making a pot of coffee when she heard a breath right behind her. 'God, Paris!' she exclaimed. 'You have got to stop doing that!'

Paris completely ignored her response. 'What did Doyle say?' she began, her face completely serious.

Rory sighed. She did not have the energy to deal with Paris just then. 'He was just explaining the article he wants me to do. It's supposedly the headline.' She watched as Paris narrowed her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. 'Paris, we can trade if you want. I don't mind. I'll do whatever article you're doing.' she offered, hoping Paris would stop the death glare she was giving her.

She looked sceptical. 'That explanation took two hours? I don't think so. Doyle is _my_ boyfriend. Don't you forget it.'

If there was one thing Rory had learnt in the last five years, it was that arguing with Paris would not be worth the amount of energy it required. 'Yeah, I know.' she conceded.

'What's your piece on anyway? Mine is supposed to focus on how world diplomatic relations have been altered since the invasion, since, you know, I am really much better when it comes to that kind of stuff.' Paris replied, silently accepting that she'd been a little crazy to think Rory would ever go after Doyle through her usual way of moving the conversation along.

'I'm looking at what life is like for the soldiers on the ground. Conditions, morale, all of it. The only thing is that Doyle wants interviews, and I have no idea how to get that to happen. The Yale Daily News is just a college paper.' As she heard herself talk Rory could tell that she already sounded defeated, although, if anything it reflected how she felt.

Paris had sat down on the couch and was making herself comfortable, flicking through the tv channels. 'You know,' she said casually, 'you could always ask Tristan.'

'Huh?' She frowned. What did he have to do with anything? 'Military school does not mean he was in the army.' she replied, a little annoyed that Paris was wasting her time. Besides, she knew there had to be some ulterior motive. Paris _never_ just mentioned things.

And as quickly as it had disappeared, Paris' glare returned. 'I meant his internship. He was in Iraq for a while, he might be able to tell you something.'

She paused, and Rory wondered if she was done.

'And I was just trying to make your life easier. Sorry, I'll remember not to next time.' she finished angrily.

Now she would have to apologise. Sometimes Paris and her mood swings was a little too much to deal with. 'No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you. I just didn't understand, that's all.'

Paris huffed. 'I don't care. Ask Tristan, don't ask Tristan. Doesn't affect me.' She wouldn't even look at Rory, instead keeping her eyes trained on the tv since she still hadn't found something to watch.

Assuming that Paris had ended the conversation, Rory went into her room and closed the door behind her. She flung her bag on the chair and laid down on her bed, and sighed as she sunk into the mattress. It had been a long day. It didn't help that the newspaper assignment was completely stressing her out.

She dug her phone out of her pocket and began to look for Tristan's name in the directory, deciding that she may as well see if he could help her, but realised she didn't have his number. That was odd, considering she thought by now they would call themselves friends. Did he have her number? Something told her that he did, although she couldn't imagine how. Obviously they hadn't traded them.

Pushing the phone back in her pocket, she forced herself to get back up off the bed and made her way to Steph's dorm, hoping to get Tristan's phone number from her. Impatiently, she knocked at the door, but there was no answer and she knew Steph never locked it, so she turned the handle herself and went inside. As usual, the place was a mess, clothes strewn all over the common room. Chuckling, Rory wondered what Steph's roommate thought of it. 'Steph…' she called, but there was no answer. Just as she turned to leave, the sound of running water caught her attention. Steph was probably in the shower.

She thought for a moment. Sure, she could come back later, but it was Friday night and chances were that Steph was going out, and she really needed to get in touch with Tristan. Besides, it wasn't like she hadn't seen Steph naked, after all, they had shared a room when they were skiing. Deciding that it wouldn't be a big deal, Rory gently eased open the door of the bathroom. It was so steamy that she could barely see. She opened her mouth to tell Steph that she was there when her eyes focussed on the figure in the shower, causing her mouth to snap shut. It wasn't Steph, that was for sure. For starters, Steph wasn't that tall. Also, Steph wasn't a guy.

He had his back to her. Her first instinct was to look away, to back out of the room as silently as she'd entered, but it was like something had possessed her. She couldn't move. She couldn't even think, couldn't question why there was a guy in Steph's shower or who he was. All she could do was stare at the man in front of her. The bottom half of his body was obscured by the steam on the glass but she could see his whole torso. He had his arms raised above his head as he stood under the shower head and she could see each of his well-defined muscles jump as the hot water hit them. He ran his tan arms through his hair, making it change to a darker blonde as it got wetter. Her eyes fell on the necklace that sat around his neck, his only identifying feature, a string of brown beads that for some reason seemed familiar. She knew she'd seen it before.

She continued to stare at the necklace and the back of his head, desperately trying to remember who those beads belonged to when suddenly, she realised she was no longer looking at blonde hair. Instead, her eyes were resting on the tanned skin of his collar bone. Inhaling sharply, her eyes flashed up to meet his azure blue ones. They danced as he stared back at her, an eyebrow raised as if to ask if she liked what she saw. And in truth, she did. She knew she wasn't hiding that very well. A smirk crept to his lips.

Of course. It had to be Tristan. She could feel herself blushing uncontrollably and she blinked, trying to make herself look down. But still, she couldn't. She held his gaze, biting her lip while he looked at her. He raised his hand slowly and beckoned her towards him. She tried to shake her head but instead found herself taking a step towards him. His smirk grew bigger. 'Come on,' he mouthed, his breath steaming up the glass of the shower even more.

Her eyes widened in response. She was torn. Part of her, the sane part of her, wanted to retreat from the bathroom as quickly as possible. But the other part of her, the part she barely recognised, had her hands working at the top button of her shirt. What was she doing? Her eyes were trained on Tristan's, but he had broken his gaze and was watching her fumble with her buttons. It seemed to her that the colour of his eyes had changed from aquamarine to a deep and darker blue. She could feel her whole body quivering as she moved onto the next button, under his eyes. She had lost all control. Yet, as heard Tristan's breathing become shallower, she had a feeling she wasn't the only one.

She had three buttons left when she heard the front door slam. 'Tris, I'm back!' came Steph's perky voice. Suddenly, Tristan had looked up and made eye contact again. But while she was panicking, he looked infinitely calm. In fact, he looked downright pleased.

'Well, Mary.' he murmured. 'I guess you'll just have to hide in here.' Somehow his smirk had infiltrated his tone. He opened the door slightly and reached out his hand, which caused water to stream down his arm and form a puddle on the floor. Chills spread down her own arms as she tentatively placed her hand in his. She couldn't pull back, only look at her hand, so daintily sitting in his palm, their fingers beginning to intertwine. Slowly, she raised her eyes to meet his again. Somehow, they were twinkling yet filled with lust at the same time. He knew exactly what he was doing.

Time seemed to stop as she stood there, lost in his eyes while his fingers moulded around hers. She became aware of the sensation of water running down her own arm, the sleeve of her shirt getting wet and sticking to her. And suddenly, she felt herself return to the real world. She jerked her hand away from Tristan's and stepped back, trying to ignore whatever flashed across his eyes. Quickly, she redid the buttons of her shirt that she had managed to undo, conscious that Tristan had turned around so that his back was once again facing her. She couldn't see his face.

'I'll wait for you outside, um… I need you to do something for me.' she mumbled, backing towards the door. She thought she heard him mutter something in response, but chose to pretend she hadn't and quietly twisted the doorknob. She hoped that Steph was in her bedroom. Peeking through the crack between the door and the frame, she made sure that nobody was in the common room, and stepped out of the bathroom, making sure to close the door behind her. She bit her lip and tiptoed out of the suite, softly opening and shutting the main door.

Once outside, she took a deep breath. What had just happened? What had she done? Since when did she become this person? She wasn't the kind of girl to get even contemplate getting in the shower with some guy! What had happened to her usual, easily embarrassed self? If she had been in her sane mind, she would've just left, probably rambling a shameful apology, her face beet red and her eyes averted. But instead, she had almost gotten in with him! Trying to calm herself down, she began to walk down the hall back to her own dorm when she remembered she hadn't got what she came for, and she'd told Tristan she'd wait for him. Hoping nobody had seen her exit, she turned on her heel and went back to Steph's dorm and knocked loudly on the door. Steph answered at once.

'Hey Rory! What are you doing here?' she asked, smiling and pulling Rory inside. 'Do you want some coffee?'

Rory smiled, trying to make herself feel more at ease. 'Would I ever say no to coffee?' she joked, albeit a little nervously. She couldn't help it, knowing that Tristan was just behind bathroom door. The shower wasn't running anymore.

Steph tipped the grounds into the paper and switched on the machine. 'I have had the worst day,' she began. 'My Russian Lit teacher hates me and is refusing to give me an extension on this essay. I mean, we only had a week to write it and I just didn't have time! I tried to explain that to him, but…'

Rory tuned her out, waiting patiently for her to finish. Sometimes, you just had to let Steph get these rants out of her system. She made herself comfortable on one of the stools at the counter. Somehow she was still hyperaware of the sounds coming from the bathroom; water running in the sink, a towel being shaken.

Steph's voice broke her concentration. 'So anyway, long story short, I'm going on a date with my lit teacher's son. He's thirty!' she exclaimed, causing Rory to burst into giggles at the sudden insanity of the statement, especially since she hadn't been listening to the lead up. Steph looked at her indignantly. 'It's not funny!'

Calming down, Rory went over to the cabinet and got out two mugs. 'I know. Your life sucks.' she consoled. 'But I spent two and a half hours one-on-one with Doyle today, so I think I win.'

Steph pretended to ponder the thought for a moment. 'Yeah, I think you do.' She poured coffee in the two cups. 'So, do you need anything or did you just come over to say hi?'

Rory swallowed her coffee. 'Yeah, actually. I was wondering if you knew where Tristan was. I need his help with something.' Originally, she had just planned on asking for his phone number but now that she knew he was here, she felt some inexplicable urge to ask him then and there.

Who was she kidding? The fact that she had almost just gotten in the shower with him definitely had something to do with it. She could feel herself going red as she remembered what had happened just moments before; her hand in his, her top almost completely unbuttoned, the feeling of being unable to escape his gaze.

'Rory!' Steph shouted, snapping her fingers in front of Rory's face. 'I said, he's in the shower. His is broken and apparently my bathroom is less of a tip than Logan's, although I'm not sure how' she frowned. 'He'll be right out' she continued, looking at Rory inquisitively. 'Are you alright?'

'Yeah, I'm fine. Just feeling a little spacey, that's all.' she assured her, hoping that she sounded convincing enough. Her embarrassment was bad enough without Steph knowing about it.

Steph looked a little disbelieving. 'Okay… hey, speak of the devil!' she said, smiling at something behind Rory.

Rory turned around, expecting to see Tristan fully dressed but instead was confronted with him standing directly behind her in nothing but the towel she had seen hanging on the bar next to the shower. It hung low on his hips, which did nothing for the red tint that had already appeared on her face. 'Mary, fancy meeting you here.' he said suggestively. She knew he wouldn't pull anything in front of Steph, but she noticed his eyes had not yet returned to their usual colour.

She sighed uneasily. 'Yeah, um… I was looking for you, actually. But I wasn't expecting find you here.'

That was true. There was no way she could've guessed that Tristan would be the one in the shower.

He caught on to her meaning. 'Nice surprise, all the same.'

Rory marvelled at his talent to make any words sound dirty. Usually, she would've thought of something witty to say back to him, to put him in his place, but her mind was blank. 'Okay, well, I have this assignment for the paper on the lives of the soldiers who are in Iraq, and I know you did your internship there so I thought maybe you'd have the numbers of friends you made who I could interview. Or I could interview you, or you could just help me with research…' she trailed off, realising she'd been rambling.

That was definitely not what he'd been expecting to hear. He looked a little confused. 'That's a pretty big assignment for a college paper.' he said, frowning. He didn't say anything else.

'Come on, Trissy! You'll help her, won't you?' Steph interjected in a baby voice, obviously trying to break the tension that had been building since Tristan had appeared.

He smiled gratefully. 'Of course. Should I come over tomorrow and we can work on it?'

She was going to Stars Hollow this weekend. 'I'm seeing my mom tomorrow. What about tonight?'

'I can't tonight.' he replied.

She was perfectly willing to accept that simple explanation, but Steph wasn't so sure. She narrowed her eyes. 'What are you doing?'

He sighed. 'I've got a date.' He kept his eyes on Steph, not on her.

'Oh, that's fine.' Rory said, trying to mask her disappointment. She should've expected him to have a date. Besides, it had absolutely no effect on her whatsoever. She didn't like him.

Apparently she hadn't hidden her feelings that well, as Tristan relaxed and began to plan an alternative. 'How about I come to your house on Sunday? We can work on your article and I'll drive us back afterwards.' Rory opened her mouth to protest, after all, it was a long drive for him to make when they could just meet next week, but he saw what she was about to say and started again. 'Honestly, it's not a problem. I'm sure we'll have a great time' he reassured her, but there was something in his tone that made her think he was looking forward to it for slightly different reasons.

She gave in willingly. 'If you're sure… it's the blue house on the road that's comes off the one by the left corner of the square. Actually, think of it as the one diagonal to the left if you're standing in front of Luke's. Or—'

'I'll figure it out.' Tristan interrupted, smiling. 'So, I need to change….'

'And I'm going out!' Steph added.

'Oh, sure, I'm leaving.' Rory replied, a little embarrassed that she'd been there for so long, holding up both Tristan's and Steph's evening plans. It didn't help that she had had to force herself to look away from Tristan's washboard abs the whole time.

He smirked. 'Don't be sad, Mary. You know any other time I would want you to stay.' He called out as she and Steph picked up their bags and walked out of the suite. He was joking in his usual way, yet his words somehow seemed completely serious to Rory and it took all her power to stop herself from turning back to look at him.

'Lock the door behind you! Keys are on the counter.' Steph called behind her as they left.

As soon as the door had shut, Tristan breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, she was gone and he could get himself back under control. Her teasing hand in his had been everything short of pure torture mixed with delight and he was amazed that he had been able to resist the urge to rip her shirt off himself and pull her into the shower with him. He knew she'd wanted him, he could tell by the way she had been shivering even though the bathroom was so steamy it was basically a sauna.

But he couldn't let himself want her. Not because he had to be chivalrous, not because he'd promised Paris he would leave her alone. Definitely not because her feelings were so delicate that he didn't trust himself with them, because he knew that wasn't true. Rory was one of the strongest people he knew. She had to be in order to deal with Logan for that long (he remembered that he still needed to apologise to him for beating him up). It was because it had taken him over a year to get over her in high school, yet they had only kissed once, and she didn't even like it. Once he had a taste of her he'd want more, and that was dangerous. If military school had taught him one thing it was that vulnerability was a handicap, and he wasn't sure that he'd be able to handle whatever would inevitably happen between them.

So Rory was off limits, for his own sake.

Even if he had desperately wanted her to stay.

* * *

It was 2.32. Tristan would be there any second, and Rory was frantically attempting to clean up the constant mess that was the Gilmore household. All the magazines from the coffee table had been shoved under the couch as she tried to clear a possible space for them to work in, and for once the kitchen counters were free of all Lorelai's various gizmos. Rory even found herself tidying her bedroom, although she didn't know why. Under no circumstances would Tristan DuGrey be making an appearance in there.

Why had she agreed to this? After the encounter in the shower yesterday, unbearable awkwardness was inevitable and she wasn't sure how she'd be able to cope. She was straightening her quilt for the third time when she heard a knock at the door. Rushing through the living room, she took one last glance around the house and realised that despite her desperate attempts to create a useable workspace, the couch was still a disaster zone. They'd have to work somewhere else.

Taking a deep breath, she quickly tucked her hair behind her ear and thanked god that Lorelai wasn't home. She'd get a field day out of this. Hoping she looked calmer than she felt, she opened the door.

'Hi Tristan,' she said, trying to force a smile.

He raised an eyebrow. 'That was quick. Waiting by the door?' he remarked, his usual smirk plastered on his face, his hands jammed in his jean pockets.

She exaggerated rolling her eyes, relieved that Tristan was acting normal, even if his normal self was infuriating. 'Yeah, right.' She paused, unable to think of a better comeback, but slowly came to realise he was waiting for her to continue. 'Oh, sorry! Come in.'

Turning around, she led him into her living room, making a mental note of how he responded to the clutter and hoping it wasn't too bad to the untrained eye. She watched as he surveyed the room. 'I tried to clean up… but I think we'll just have to work in my room, if that's okay.' she said tentatively, hoping he wasn't picking up on how uncomfortable she was.

'Mary!' he said, surprised. 'Already trying to get me into your room? Well I never…' he trailed off suggestively, but followed as she made her way to the bedroom, and made himself comfortable on the bed as Rory quickly threw some dirty clothes into her closet.

Once she'd gotten the closet doors to stay shut, she turned to face him and was surprised to see him laying across the whole bed, instead of just sitting at one end. He looked so at home, his arms crossed over his chest and his back propped up on her pillows. She noticed he'd left a space for her to sit next to him, and she could feel her cheeks warming up at the prospect of being so close to him. Suddenly, he didn't look like the 20 year old man he was but instead he could've been sixteen, like he was when they met. She could almost picture him in his Chilton uniform, his shirt untucked and his tie loose.

'You alright?' he asked gently, but his eyes sparkled. She must have been staring, and he knew exactly why.

Flustered, she replied 'Yeah, uh, I'm just gonna go get my laptop. I'll be right back' and she all but ran out of the room.

As soon as she'd turned the corner into the living room, she breathed a deep sigh of relief. What was happening to her? She was just embarrassing herself, and Tristan knew it. His smirk was probably growing wider by the second as he imagined just how affected she was. But how was he not feeling the same? Surely what happened in Steph's bathroom had the same effect on him as it did on her.

It dawned on her that her laptop was sitting on her desk in her bedroom. She sighed. Of course, Tristan had probably noticed that. She figured she'd better go back in before he could use her prolonged break as evidence for her obvious attraction to him, since that was definitely what it was. There was no use denying it. But there was no way Rory would be letting that grow into anything more. She'd dated one playboy, and was not going to move on to the only guy she knew that had a worse reputation than Logan.

She made her way back to the bedroom, but stopped at the doorframe. Tristan was standing in front of her dresser, examining the items on top. His blonde head was bowed as he focussed on the item in his right hand, his left resting on the drawer he had opened. Frowning, she attempted to see what it was. She could make out a brown cord hanging by his wrist, but nothing else. She could feel herself slowing her breathing so he wouldn't hear her.

She watched as he turned the object over and suddenly she saw what it was. Dean's bracelet. Her eyes widened involuntarily as she watched him examine it. Of course he remembered it, and of course he knew what it was. More importantly, who it was from. There was no way he couldn't, considering how much he used to make fun of her for wearing the bracelet that 'bagboy' gave her.

Her heart sunk as she remembered all that she had said to Tristan, all because of Dean. And he looked so young, standing there, that she couldn't help but position herself four years ago. He could've been here if she'd accepted those PJ Harvey tickets, and even though she'd apologised and she knew he was over it, after all, it had been so long ago, she still felt bad, because with her, he was always going to compare himself to Dean, the boy she'd chosen over him.

Looking back, she couldn't even remember why she hated him to the extent she did, and especially now that they were friends again, she regretted refusing to give him any chances back then. She'd missed out on so much.

Suddenly, he dropped the bracelet back in the drawer and closed it again. Rory jumped back behind the corner so he wouldn't see her, but peeked around the edge, taking note of how he carefully selected a book from her shelf. He was reading the back when she decided to go back in.

'What're you looking at?' she enquired cheerfully, praying he didn't think anything of the fact she'd just come from behind the wall.

He scanned the huge expanse of books in front of him. 'Just admiring your collection. I knew you were a reader but this is beyond what I imagined.' he said quietly.

She smiled. 'There's more.' she said, and pulled out a few of her drawers to reveal even more books.

Tristan sat back down on the bed. Rory looked at him confused, but he just stared back. His eyes were so deep, she could feel him looking through her and trying to decipher what she was feeling. She watched as he swallowed, and wondered if he was nervous. He was doing a good job of covering it up. Finally, he cleared his throat. 'So, should we get started?'

Relieved, she nodded. Tristan patted the bed next to him, where she noticed he'd positioned her laptop. Embarrassed, she didn't argue about sitting so close to him and instead just sat down. Trying to ignore the heat radiating from his thigh that was right next to hers, she opened the computer up and pulled up a page on the origins of the Iraq war.

He scanned the page curiously, wondering how much Rory already knew.

She inhaled nervously. 'So, Paris mentioned something about an internship in Iraq? I don't know if you'll be able to help me, but anything you can tell me about life there would be really helpful. Doyle's really stressed about this article and he's taking it out on me.'

Tristan smiled reassuringly. 'That's why I came. Have you done any research yet?'

Sighing, she replied. 'I haven't had time, I hope that's okay. Well, actually I really just need an interview from you and I can do the research later. I know you're busy— I don't want to keep you here for too long.'

'No, it's fine. I have nothing to do, so lets start researching now, then you can interview me. Oh, and I talked to my friend Will who's in Iraq now and we need to call him at 4 for a phone interview.' he mentioned casually.

Rory beamed. 'You did that?! That's great!' Suddenly, she felt herself hugging him. What was she doing? Luckily, he didn't seem to be too startled and she felt him briefly hug her back. Nestled so close to his neck she could smell his cologne mixed with the faint scent of shaving cream, and she felt her eyelids flutter shut. It felt too soon when Tristan released her, but she hoped he hadn't noticed her reluctance to let go. 'Okay, there's some books in the living room. You go get them, I'll make us some coffee.'

'Alright Mary. Whatever you say.' she heard him reply as she made her way out of the room.

* * *

Four hours later and they were sitting on opposite ends of Rory's bed, books spread out between them. They'd been working solidly since their coffee, only taking a break for the phone call with Will, Rory typing up notes and Tristan scribbling down his on a notepad, and her concentration was beginning to falter. It was funny— his handwriting hadn't changed since high school, his letters still a slanting scrawl.

The whole situation was so reminiscent of those days; it had been years since she'd studied at home on her bed. It was almost like they were doing a group project together. Her mind wandered to their version of Romeo and Juliet. Of course they were the ill-fated couple. He'd matured so much since then, she thought as she slyly surveyed the figure sitting across from her.

She hadn't wanted to admit it then, but he'd always been attractive. And now, with his T-shirt clinging to the muscles of his shoulders she couldn't help but remember what he'd looked like in the shower, without any shirt at all. His hair was as spiky as ever. There was something so surreal about him being in her childhood room, this boy who would've done anything to be alone in there with her, yet she'd invited him in herself.

She blinked and focussed her eyes on one of the books, the words blurring together on the page. Suddenly, he swept all of the books off the bed, and held his hand out for her to place hers in. She did so, keeping her eyes on him the whole time. Uncrossing her legs, she positioned herself so she was straddling him and she could feel everything through the fabric of his jeans. He closed his eyes and breathed in the sweet scent of her perfume. 'God, Mary. You don't know how long I've wanted this.' he mumbled, before sliding a hand around the back of her neck and pulling her close. Their lips connected and at once they fell into rhythm with each other, no time for teasing first. His other hand slid up her shirt as the kiss became more passionate, and while her own hands made their way up his chest to his shoulders. She could feel the heat rising in her stomach as she moved on top of him, wanting him to move faster…

She became aware of Tristan's voice in the silence. 'Do you wanna finish up for today? I don't know about you but I can't focus on the work anymore.'

Understatement of the year, she thought to herself, and squirmed so that she was sitting on top of her foot. 'Yeah. I'm starving, let's go get something to eat.' she replied, knowing she'd flushed bright red at Real Tristan's interruption of her daydream.

Clambering up from the pile of books, Rory grabbed her bag from the floor headed outside after Tristan. His car was parked in the driveway but it was different from the dark blue convertible she'd ridden in before. This car was altogether more classy, a black mercedes four door. Tristan, always the gentleman, was standing by the passenger side waiting for Rory to get in. She did so with a smile and a 'thank you sir.'

He laughed a little. 'You're welcome, milady.' he joked back, before closing the door and getting in on his own side. 'Where are we headed?'

She shrugged. 'I don't know, what are you in the mood for?'

Tristan smiled mischievously. 'There's this Italian place in New Haven that I think you'll love.'

'But I've got to come back here, and I don't want you to drive me all the way home and then have to go back again.' she protested, although she wasn't sure why. She loved Italian food.

'I'm staying in Hartford.' he said, smiling, but his eyes revealed his inner conflict.

Rory knew he didn't get on well with his parents. She made a note to ask him why he was staying there later and instead happily agreed to the plan, turning up the radio as Tristan reversed out of the driveway. Impatiently, she twisted the knob to the next station but it was just another DJ talking. She sighed and twisted again and again until she felt Tristan's hand on hers. She looked up at him sharply.

'What are you doing?' he asked, laughing.

She would've laughed back with him but his palm was still spread over her fingers, his other arm placed lazily on the steering wheel. Instead she just stared at him for a moment. His eyes weren't on the road; he looked straight back at her.

'I was looking for the station we heard last time' she replied, her voice a breathy whisper. She could feel him beginning to wind his fingers inbetween hers, and she couldn't help but break eye contact to watch his hands work so delicately. She noticed his gaze had focussed there too, and at once they both looked up again at each other.

His face broke out into a smile. Rory shook her head, smiling too. Gradually she became aware of something in her peripheral vision, through the wind screen.

Her eyes widened. 'Tristan! Brake!' she exclaimed. She'd forgotten how fast he drove, and as time had slowed they'd been gaining on the car in front of them.

'Shit!' he cursed and slammed on the brakes, causing them both to be thrown back into their seats, before gradually relaxing as he steadied their speed. Breathing deeply, Rory looked over at him and found he had done the same, and they both immediately broke into a fit of giggles.

'Tristan!' Rory exclaimed through her laughs, 'This isn't funny! We so could've died!'

Tears were coming from his eyes, he was laughing so hard, yet he still managed to reply 'But we're still alive, aren't we, Mary?'

She raised her eyebrows. 'That may be, but I am never letting you drive me anywhere again. I have absolutely zero faith in your driving' she teased.

'Something tells me that you'd let me drive you anywhere' he teased back

Rory looked over at him, but his eyes were trained on the road this time. He was smiling to himself, a look that was so genuine it caused her to shake her head in disbelief. She could feel him turn to look at her as he registered the little sigh she made, and felt him take in her own secret smile. 'You're so cute' he said, almost at a whisper, as if he was surprised by it.

Yet she knew exactly how he felt. He wasn't surprised at her cuteness, more astounded by the foreign feeling that had suddenly appeared inside him, like it had in her. A rising warmth in her chest, so pure that it felt like it was pouring out.

She recognised this feeling like she was meeting an old friend after a long time. She hadn't felt it since Jess, and even then it had been fleeting. She knew she should've felt some degree of panic, since whatever was going on between her and Tristan had obviously surpassed simple attraction, yet the purity of it was somehow reassuring.

Glancing up at Tristan, she noticed a look of utter contentment on his face, and it slowly dawned on her that she was probably making the same expression.

And for the first time, she wondered it maybe Tristan DuGrey could be more than a friend.

* * *

 _A/N- this chapter was supposed to have a bit more plot in it, but I just decided to finish it up here and publish it to satisfy you guys a little. Life's crazy, but I have planned out the next few chapters so it will_ _eventually_ _get finished._


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